I Can't Fight the Stars
by LMG
Summary: Draco Malfoy had known what was going to happen to him on his 18th birthday since he was 5 years old. But damn, even he hadn't expected this. Veela!Draco and Mate!Harry. -THIS IS A NEW CHAPTER OCTOBER 23, 2010
1. Default Chapter

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

ENJOY!

****

CHAPTER ONE

HISTORY OF VEELAS

Veela's are purely magical creatures that live alongside Wizards. They consist of three clans; the Air, the Earth, and the Water Clan. All Veela's have pale skin and hair, long limbs, and pale coloured eyes. Each Veela Clan has a different way of recognizing their mate. Their language flows like music and has no harsh sounding tones. One word could mean many different things depending on the context in which it was spoken. Veela's have three words for mate alone: alona or mate, bedine meaning chosen (before mating), and hayana meaning lover.

None of the Clans can do wandless magic. Veela's need, at the center of their wand core, a total of three things; a hair from a living ancestor not directly related, bark from a natural tree or bush from their birthplace, and an element which the wand maker will choose and the wand bearer will control after puberty. Though the Air and Water Clan are able to change shapes when angered, none of the Clan can become Animagi.

Excerpt from : A Concise History of Veelas and Other Magical Beings

By: Pinco Pallino 

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1919.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"I am not going!" Draco snapped for what felt like the 11th time.

Lucius Malfoy rolled his eyes but made sure he did not let his upset son see him do it, "you will."

"But Dad...I..." Draco let his Malfoy Mask fall; the one had worn since the age of seven even in front of his parents, and let his father see just how much all this was actually affecting him. "I might not be able to stop myself this year." He ended gritting his beautiful straight white teeth that went with his beautiful straight blonde hair and his beautiful straight long limbs and other enticing attributes of his 'heritage'.

"You are a Malfoy, Draco. You will not run from this." Lucius stated firmly. He knew how much this was hurting his beloved son but he also knew that the Madness would consume him if he didn't find his mate. He had turned eighteen just last week and already the signs were beginning to show. His mood swings were just the first signs of his Veela side fighting his Human side and they would only get worse the longer he went without his mate, until the Madness set in and he either killed himself or let himself waste away. Most unmated Veela killed themselves before they let the Madness consume them. "You should have no fear of unwanted advances. We have been over this before, Son, because you are a pureblood Veela male your powers will only affect your bedine. No one else."

"That's what I am afraid of." Draco murmured too softly for his father to hear. Raising his chin he gave his usual sneer, "and what if my mate is not at Hogwarts?"

"You know they are, Draco. If they were not, you would feel compelled to look elsewhere. Since you have not, and none of your friends are your _alona_, the logical conclusion is that she is at Hogwarts." Lucius said in a long suffering tone. It was obvious this conversation was not new to either man.

Draco huffed but had no response to his fathers comment. He hated this. Why couldn't the Veela gene skip him? But _nnoooo_...he had to have it. In spades. From both parents! Damn genetics.

"Draco," Narcissa said in her gentle voice, "why do you not want to go back to Hogwarts?"

Draco stared at her, a startled, frightened look on his face before he cleared it with a look of disdain, "I just do not want to go back."

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, I will not have this conversation with you again." Lucius said coldly. He loved his son, really he did, but sometimes he was such a damn drama queen.

"Would you rather die than have your mate, Draco?" His mother's voice was tinged with a knowing that made Draco want to run away in fear.

"I don't want to die, Mum." He leapt to reassure her. He looked into pale grey eyes so like his own and smiled at her in an attempt to reassure her of his sincerity. She might look like a woman sculpted from pure marble with her pale skin and hair but that look belied her inner strength and warmth for her family.

"Then why are you insisting you stay home?" Lucius cried out in frustration, his pale hair and face the exact shade as his wife and son's, except it was now flushed with anger. Draco turned to glare at his father noting the angry flush marrying his usually pale countenance.

"It's too much, Dad! Everything happening..." Draco was frustrated beyond belief. He didn't want to die but he was only eighteen for Merlin's Sake. "I am only eighteen, Dad. I don't want a mate, or kids, or anything like that. I want to travel and meet new people."

Lucius had let Draco make his own decision about taking the Dark Mark. He had yet to tell The Dark Lord that his son would not be joining him anytime soon, if ever. He fancied his skin exactly as it was, intact. He had always known that Draco would never join the monster that Lucius had to serve. He just hoped and prayed that the Potter boy would fulfil his destiny before too long or the Malfoy family would be without its patriarch when Tom Riddle found out about Draco. Of course, all that would be for naught if Voldemort ever found out he was a spy. Even Draco did not know that. "Draco…" he sighed.

"I want to play professional Quidditch." The stubborn look to her son's face was something that Narcissa hadn't seen for a long time. Looking closely she could also see the sadness behind it.

"Darling, you can still do all that." Draco flinched as his mother tried to console him.

"Yeah, after I bond, shag whomever like bunnies until they are pregnant, kid is born, then and only then will I feel comfortable enough to leave them alone long enough to play a game. I'll have no life!"

"Your mate will be your life, Draco. As you pointed out you are only eighteen. You will have plenty of years left to play Quidditch." Lucius said as he tried to reason with his distraught son. "I felt the same way, Draco. Until the day I really met your mother."

"I know Dad, you guys have been telling me that story since you figured out I was going to have the dominant Veela gene." Draco sighed running his hand through his fine blonde hair in a gesture that was very unlike him. "I just want _my_ life, not someone else's."

Narcissa had been silent for a while as she studied her son. She understood his frustration. She'd had her own plans until Lucius claimed her as his own. Plans she had gladly given up. She knew Draco was very ambitious and his drive to succeed overshadowed even Lucius' at that age.

"Draco, do you know who your mate is?" She asked into the silence her son's statement had caused. She kept a close eye on him to see if she could gleam something from him. When he had the Malfoy Mask on he was very hard to read, but she just knew there was something he wasn't telling them. She _could_ read him, sometimes, but only if the emotion or information he was trying to suppress really bothered him. And she knew that this Veela business bothered him.

"No, Mum," Draco said softly not looking at her.

"Do you have at least an inkling?" Ah, there it was. A momentary tightness around his mouth. He did have at least a small indication of who his mate was.

"No." Short and sweet. And a complete lie. She wondered why he would lie to them.

"Come, Draco, your powers started showing, even if infinitesimally, when you turned seventeen. You came into your Veela powers when you turned eighteen. Are you telling me that you have no clue, however small, of who your mate might be?" Narcissa chided her son. He did have a clue and she was going to make him admit it.

Draco snorted and rose to walk to the window where he stared out onto the lovely Malfoy Gardens. Narcissa and Lucius shared a look at their son's out of character behavior. They didn't understand why Draco was so reluctant to go back to Hogwarts. He was acting like he would rather die than find his future partner. Something was up with him, obviously, something he didn't want to tell _anyone_ because even his friends had no idea why he didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. Lucius knew, he had asked. Finding their mate was an essential part of a Veela's life and here Draco was resisting it with all he had.

All that would accomplish was bringing on the Madness. Lucius knew his son didn't want to die, so, the only reason for him to not want to find his mate would be that it was someone he himself would find unsuitable. As this thought occurred to him he saw his lovely wife nod her head as she seemed to come to the same conclusion.

"Draco?" Narcissa called softly. Draco didn't turn to look at her and she hadn't expected him too. She was just calling his wandering attention back to them and the situation at hand.

Draco sighed again and lowered his head to rest on the cool pane of the French doors in front of him. His next words caused a silence so quiet it was as if the room had turned into a thousand year old tomb. His tomb.

With a voice reminiscent of his five year old self he said quite calmly and oh so quietly, "I don't know who my mate is, yet. All I can tell is that it doesn't seem to be a girl."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

He couldn't stand the burning heat, the clawing, itchy feeling that made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He tried to reign in the feelings of despair that threatened him again this night but as always he was unsuccessful. He had not had a decent night's sleep in weeks and it was beginning to take its toll on him. Darkness crept closer and closer to him and the screams of the unknown hovered just on the outskirts of the darkness, pushing it in with every faint beat of his heart. He tried to stop the screams but the need…the want…the hurt was just too much.

"A nian asa…" Even the voice that would normally calm him was not working this night.

His heart and soul screamed for a release, a need, that did not come, that never came. It burned him from the inside out and he knew, he just knew, that it was supposed to be a good thing, and it had been for a long time, but not lately. Now it was killing him.

Giving in, he screamed out his agony. Thankfully, it only lasted seconds before that calm blackness of unconsciousness overcame him. His last thought was that he was glad that the screaming gibberish was now silent and the burning need lessened and for the first time in a long while he rested peacefully.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Draco sighed as he set another book on Veela aside. He was never going to find what he was looking for. He was beginning to think that what was going on with him had nothing to do with being a Veela, per se. He sighed again, maybe it was just his Madness. He had one more day before he left for Hogwarts and he could feel this need at the back of his mind. A need that had become insistent the more time that passed after his birthday. He knew that soon, very soon, it would overwhelm him. He wasn't sure if he waited anxiously, or fearfully, for that time.

He had to get to Hogwarts, the sooner the better. He just didn't understand it. Nothing he had read in any of these books could explain what he was feeling. This had to have something to do with his mate and if it did the amount of innate power that he had was enormous because nothing could stop a Veela from feeling his _bedine_ except the mate's own magic. His mate was resisting his pull. How Draco did not know and he doubted that he understood what was happening in the first place. His mate had a natural tendency to block his mind and the Veela in him screamed to know the reason.

What this was telling him, logically of course, was that there was something wrong with his mate, not physically but mentally. He had to fight down the growl that came from him at the thought of him hurting. The boy was a very strong wizard with some serious problems. He could go ask his parents about what to do but he was still feeling out of sorts around them ever since his confession.

They had not shown much surprise at his words and he had quickly decided not to question why, too closely. He had answered his mother's gentle question of how he knew this, with as much aplomb as he could muster, given the fact he was telling his parents they would soon have a son-in-law instead of the daughter-in-law they had been expecting.

"I have never had any interest in either gender, Mum." Draco murmured with a red face. Merlin! He couldn't believe that he was having this conversation with his mother, his father, yeah, but not his sweet innocent mother.

"Darling, love knows no gender. It just knows when two people are meant to be. Now, what happened to make you think your mate was a boy? Did you see someone you wanted in 'that' way?" Well, maybe not so innocent.

"Mum…" Draco stuttered as his face grew even hotter.

"Cissa, leave the boy be." Lucius said with a faint smile. "Son, that was to be expected as your Veela side had yet to declare a _hayana_. So…there was no attraction."

"Oh."

"But that still doesn't explain why he feels that his mate is male, Lucius." Narcissa said quietly.

"You are right, my love. Draco?"

"I-I just…Dad…I…just do, okay." Draco stammered, as his face grew pale in fear.

"Once you get to school, you will not be yourself Draco." Lucius informed his son as he decided to let that little matter drop.

"How so?"

"The need can be overwhelming. And since you haven't yet declared your choice it will be strong until you do. It would be wise to inform your friends that you will not act normally. You will react to each spike based on what that spike consists of: there will be fear, longing, desire, and love or a mixture of them all. They will need to know what to do to help you through each one."

"But Dad," Draco snapped, "_I_ don't know what to do."

"And neither will your mate." Narcissa said gently. "You, at least, know what is happening, he will not." That shut Draco up.

"You will feel the spikes of need and the longer it goes without your mate the stronger the spikes will become. On the flip side of that, the spikes will keep the Madness at bay. Only when your mate has been declared will the spikes lessen and when you bond they will stop."

"And if he refuses?" Draco's voice shook as he asked the dreaded question.

"Then it won't matter who it was, Son." Lucius said sadly. He didn't want to loose his son. He loved him dearly; his public persona was just that, an act. Inside the confines of their home the Malfoy's were a truly loving family.

"It is okay if it is a male, Draco." Narcissa smiled sweetly, "you'll just have too, how did you put it 'shag like bunnies' more times to get him pregnant that's all." How had he even thought she was innocent?

"Mum!" Draco cried out. "Dad!"

Lucius couldn't help his chuckle at the affronted, and highly embarrassed, look on his son's red face. With a cry of exasperation Draco threw his hands up and stomped from the room. As he left the room he heard his mother ask his father in a puzzled tone, 'was it something I said?'

He spent the rest of the days until it was time to leave for Hogwarts holed up in the Library searching for a way to remedy the bullocked up life he was now leading. He found nothing, unfortunately.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

He couldn't take it anymore. The need was pulsing at the back of his mind and not even sleep stopped it. It was a gnawing feeling that was pushing him to do _something_. It was a good thing he was leaving today or someone was going to die. Painfully. Horribly. Hexed, really, really badly.

"Calm down, Draco." Lucius snapped as the patience he normally had with his son evaporated with his constant sighing and grinding of his hopefully still straight teeth.

"I can't…what the hell is wrong with me Dad?" He asked softly as he felt his fathers strong arms pull him into a comforting hug.

"You are feeling the need, Draco. You have to calm down and control yourself. It will do no good to jump your mate on the platform, now will it?" Lucius' light teasing tone brought a faint smile to his son's worried face.

"I don't know Dad, could you see the headlines?" They both chuckled at that before Lucius tightened his arms around his son.

"Draco, I want you to know that whoever it is, we will accept him."

"Thanks, Dad." Draco felt a huge relief at his father's statement. Veelas took care of their own and it didn't matter who his mate was, if he accepted him, his family would protect him with their lives if the need ever arose. His own father had rescued his wife from an abusive parent. He had never met his grandparents from his mother's side of the family and he knew he never would. From the stories he had heard about the incident he was lucky Lucius hadn't been sent to Azkaban but the Law protected Veela's and their mates in those type of situations. Of course, there were more laws for what they couldn't get away with than what they could.

Thinking of the laws he remembered the dream from last night and he just knew that something was wrong with his mate. He was in danger from something, Draco knew this without a shadow of a doubt and it angered his Veela side that he didn't know who his mate was so that he could help him. He hadn't told his parents about the dreams he had been having for the last few nights. Dark dreams of loneliness, death, and a coldness that consumed everything. Along with those dreams came a need so overwhelming it was erotic and painful at the same time. He didn't understand what the dreams meant but he vowed to find out why he was having them.

"Draco." He turned to face his mother and could not stop the huge sigh of relief as she gathered him in her arms. He felt even more tension bleed from him at her gentle touch.

"You let us know as soon as you find your mate so that we can start making the necessary arrangements." She spoke softly in his ear as she hugged him tighter. "I love you, Draco."

"I love you, too, Mum."

"Draco…" He turned to see his father holding out a small box for him to take, "this is a Family Crest ring." Draco opened the small box to see a ring that was like his own but markedly different. He knew this difference denoted the fact it was a mate's ring and not a Malfoy Heir ring. Still, it was a beautiful piece of work, done in the purest of silver with a blood red ruby at its centre. Atop the one and a half karat ruby was the decorative 'M' that adorned everything Malfoy, it was surrounded by beautiful scrollwork that, in the Veela language, said to the world that the wearer of this ring was a Veela's mate. The Malfoy Crest was on the right side, close to the heart to show where the wearer belonged now, and a blank space on the left, further from the heart to show where the wearer came from. He knew that as soon as his mate put the ring on his hand, their Family Crest would appear in the blank space there. The ring was not as large as his own but it was still an impressive size, it was bigger than what a female ring would be though in honour of the fact that his mate was male. He only hoped it would fit him well.

"As soon as your bedine accepts your claim, you will give this to him. It is exactly like yours as in that it is a portkey and will take him directly to your private rooms. There is an extra protection charm that I have tied into your ring to let you know if he is in any danger. The portkey incantation is the same as yours." Draco watched as his father explained the ring to him and he couldn't help the goofy grin from gracing his face, they accepted his mate was male, they really accepted it.

Draco could only stare at his father in astonishment as the goofy grin from before was replaced with awe. This was totally unexpected. To have his parents accept so readily that his mate would be male was more than he had expected. To have them go to these lengths to show him that they would accept whomever it was, was nothing short of amazing.

"Thank you." He whispered as he took the ring box and stashed it away in an inner pocket of his cloak.

"It is time to go." Draco nodded and with a last hug for his mother, he and his father walked out to the limo waiting for him to take him towards his last year at Hogwarts. And towards his love, whoever that might be.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Well?

Come on…you guys gotta tell me what you think. Should I continue or leave it as a one shot deal?

ENJOY!

LMG


	2. Chapter Two

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine.

ENJOY!

****

CHAPTER TWO

HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.

The three words that Veela's have for their mate are: alona or mate, bedine meaning chosen (before mating), and hayana meaning lover. Alona, or mate, is the endearment used when the one that the Veela chooses has accepted the claim and the two are bonded. Bedine, or chosen, is the endearment used when the mate has been chosen and the claim accepted but they have yet to bond. Hayana is the endearment used after bonding.

Puberty, for all Veela's, are the night of their eighteenth birthday. At that time they are able to finally sense out their mate. If they are unable to find their mate or their mate denies them, then the Madness will take over and they will try to take their own life or will waste away until dead. No Veela has ever survived a denial.

Excerpt from : Magical Beings and Their 'Awakening'.

By: Della Constantine

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1947.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Harry!" Harry heard the familiar voice of his best friend, Ron Weasley, call out the second he stepped onto the platform. He forced down the jolt of happiness he felt to see him and schooled his face into the polite mask he had made himself master over the summer.

Ron slammed into him and gave him a brief hug before he stepped back to let Hermione at him. Harry made sure not to catch the sharp glance of his other best friend as he hugged her tight.

"Shall we board?" He asked in the even tone that conveyed nothing, exactly like the expression on his face.

"Harry?" Hermione's sharp gaze searched his face. Her concern for her friend and the way he was acting was apparent to all.

Harry's face showed nothing, but a shadow seemed to pass over his eyes. It was gone quickly and with a raised eyebrow he ushered them onto the train. He would not explain himself, not even to his best friends. This was the way he was now. The carefree, naïve, Harry Potter was no more. That Harry couldn't survive in this world. Things had happened and hard, cold, truths had been realized over the summer and the most important thing he had come to conclude was that he wanted to live. In the face of that fact, he did what he thought would be best to make that conclusion come about to the best of his abilities. With the least amount of bloodshed as possible.

He wasn't cold, not really. He hadn't turned evil either. It was like the part of him that was suppose to give a damn was…well, busted. He was just alone. He had simply decided to keep to himself. He wasn't going to burden any_one_ with any_thing_ this year. Harry Potter had finally grown up and he didn't care who didn't like it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco was met by Greg and Vince the second he stepped through the barrier at Kings Cross Station. With a sharp glance and a quick flick of his hand he conveyed to them the importance of silence. He could see the concern in both their eyes and was happy to see it quickly change to that of their usual indifference the moment they saw his subtle hand movement. They had worked on this form of communication since before they received their Hogwarts letters and each, along with their girlfriends, was proficient at it. He quite liked the espionage-y feel to what had started out as a game and quickly turned into something that had saved them from getting caught more times than he could remember.

Both nodded once and moved to stand on either side of him, their places since they had become friends at the age of three. Each boy donned their own mask and seconds later were met by their girlfriends. Pansy went to walk beside Greg and Blaise by Vince. Without a word the four best friends escorted the Slytherin Prince onto the train.

As they stepped into the corridor Draco stumbled as he was hit by a spike of incredible need. No great smell hit his nose and no wondrous sound did he hear, but, his whole body shuddered with this immense _need_. This was worse than the feelings he'd had at home. It was only the lightening fast reflexes of Vince that kept him from doing a header right there in the corridor in front of most of the school. Eyes frantically searched for his mate and his cool Malfoy façade was quickly becoming a thing of the past.

"Shit! Let's get him to a compartment quick." Pansy whispered worriedly. They moved to shield him the best that they could and then gently led the increasingly frantic boy into an empty compartment. They left him standing in the middle of the compartment while they locked and silenced the room. Blaise threw up a mini-ward and the second she did, Draco gave a hard shudder and seemed to come out of his trance.

"He's here," he said in a voice that was strange and unrecognizable before he passed out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the exact second that Draco Malfoy fainted Harry Potter was hit with a feeling of such need that he gasped out loud at the strength of it. His body broke out in a cold sweat and he tried to draw in a big lungful of air quietly so that the two across from him didn't hear. He couldn't tell what it was that he needed, just that he _did _need. Once he got himself under control he stared out of the window of the compartment trying to figure out what that was. He had felt a few of them during the last few days of summer but never one that strong. He could hear Ron and Hermione talking quietly to each other, as they had for the last few minutes. He knew that they were talking about him but he found that it didn't bother him like it used too. To him, it meant that they cared and that they weren't going to push. He wasn't sure he could handle it if they pushed him right now. He would tell them, they knew, he just wasn't telling them now.

"So, Harry, what classes are you taking this year?" Hermione asked brightly. It was clear to Harry that she was saying she was okay with the way he was acting towards them. Of course, that was now, knowing her she would be demanding answers before the week was out. With a small smile he thanked her for her patience.

"DADA, Advanced Astronomy, Transfiguration, and private lessons." He said in the polite tone he had affected. His beautiful face with its wide green eyes and full lips, wingtip eyebrows and soft tanned complexion was just as polite looking as his tone was.

"No potions, mate?" Ron questioned.

"No, no potions." Was all that Harry replied.

"Harry," Hermione asked confusedly, "if you passed your OWL, why aren't you taking potions? And don't you need potions for your auror training?"

"No there is no need," Harry said stiffly as he stood, "I'm going to the restroom." He left without another word. He knew that they would talk about his behavior the second the door slid closed but he couldn't dredge up the anger he normally would have felt. He just wasn't interested in becoming an auror anymore. He figured by the time this 'thing' with Voldemort was finished he would have had it up to his eyeballs in fighting. Besides that was not what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, if he had one that is. He knew that Ron and Hermione meant well. They would discuss him, it was just another fact of life he had become used too.

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his baggy black jeans as he wandered down the corridor. He acknowledged the called out greetings with a nod of his head but didn't speak to anyone. He made his way to the back car and stood at the window watching the scenery fly by. He leaned against the door, lost in his thoughts.

He looked to the sky and wished for it to be night so that he could see the stars. That unlimited sparkling dark had drawn his attention for as long as he could remember. It amazed him that in all that darkness there was always a spot of light. The night sky reminded him of his life and the conviction that in all the darkness about him, there was always a spark of light, a spark of hope. Except lately, there had been little in the way of sparks for him.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his slightly longer than normal hair and pulled his thoughts from his internal debate. He knew if he started now he would get lost in the argument. Well, it wasn't actually an argument, more like a discussion he had with himself about the events of the day. He turned and slid down the wall so that he was sitting, wedged into a corner, at the very back of the train where he was hid from view by a row of boxes. Last minute school supplies by the looks of things.

Sighing heavily he let his head fall back against the box he was leaning against and closed his eyes. This summer, well the last week of it, had been somewhat different in terms of what was normal for him. He had mastered Occulmancy so Voldemort was out of his head but that didn't mean that things were smooth sailing. There were still nightmares to deal with that had nothing to do with Voldemort. The spikes had been going on for about 9 months increasing in strength and frequency and he'd had six in the last 10 days. The one on the train was the strongest yet but he still felt that they were good and not bad. He blamed his lack of giving a damn about much to the fact that he had not owled the Headmaster to let him know what was going on.

Besides, he didn't _want_ to tell Albus. He had been very angry with him since the end of fifth year and he had pulled himself slowly away from the meddlesome old fool. He was grateful for what he _had_ done for him but he was also so angry for what he _hadn't_ done that he could have. He was no longer a child and treating him like one had gotten his Godfather killed. He wasn't sure he could ever forgive the Headmaster for that.

He had thought about many things this summer. And he had come to the conclusion that he was alone in this world. Oh, he had friends, but he didn't have that someone that he could trust with everything. He knew he never would either. He would always wonder if the person he was with was there for him or for his fame. He hated his so called fame. It had gave him nothing but trouble in his short life.

He reached into the pocket of his old leather jacket, curtsey of Sirius before he died, and pulled out a book. It was one he had on him at all times, NightWatch- Pocket Guide to the Galaxy. He also pulled out another possession that he never went anywhere without, his CD player. Taking a good look around to make sure he was absolutely alone, Harry opened up the back of his silver and black CD player to where the batteries would normally be. The space was empty but he already knew it would be. Licking the index finger of his right hand he gently touched the positive end of one of the nodes. As his finger left that node and made its way over to the adjacent node a dull blue light was left behind. Licking his finger again he traced another dull blue line for the other node. Whispering a charm under his breath the dull blue lines suddenly crackled with energy.

He replaced the battery cover and turned the player on. As the first faint strains of Rachmaninoff's _Piano Concerto No. 2: Adagio sustention _started to play he finally began to relax. This was exactly what he had needed to do. Yes, contrary to public belief, Harry Potter loved classical music. He fully blamed his Aunt Petunia for that part of him as that was all she ever listened too. He had cleaned many a room listening to everything from Bach to Vilvaldi. He tended to like the strong, more forceful, songs unless it was time for bed and then he listened to one song only.

He knew the way he really was when he was by himself would never be believed by anyone, even Ron and Hermione did not know who he really was. He didn't blame them though because he had never told them. Soon he was deep into the familiar text and music and had forgotten what had made him come out here in the first place.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco was woken with a muttered _enervate_ from Greg. He sat up quickly and looked around frantically before he realized what he was doing and stopped himself. His friends watched as he got control of himself.

"You okay?" Vince asked hesitantly. None of them knew what to say. They knew his situation and each of them had been extremely surprised when he had said he and not she.

"I-I," Draco shuddered one more time before he had the raging need under his firm control once again. "Yes, I am fine."

"We know you are fine, Draco, we asked if you were okay." Blaise grinned.

Draco raised a fine silver eyebrow at her comment, "of course, I am fine. I am a Malfoy after all."

"And a Veela." Pansy said with a knowing grin as she pushed a stray lock of short black hair behind her ear, "a male Veela that seems to have a male mate."

Damn, Draco thought, he had hoped they hadn't caught that. "Yeah, so?"

"Was there something that you had forgotten to tell us, 'Ko?" Greg asked as he too tried to keep the foolish grin from his face.

"No." Draco said haughtily. Of course, the aristocratic image he was trying to portray was broken by the fact he was still sitting on the dusty floor of a moving train compartment.

"Oh please, 'Ko, we are not stupid. Spill." Pansy demanded. She helped him up and as soon as they had all settled they waited, with expectant looks, for him to talk.

Draco sighed, sometimes he really hated his friends. "I don't know. But then I do."

"That's it?" Blaise cried out her face reddening to match her hair. "That's not an answer." She turned to Vince, "is that an answer?"

"Hush Blaise," Greg, the calm one of the group, said quietly, "for him that is an answer. As a Veela he can't answer questions like that until he knows who his mate is."

"Correct Greg. I just know it is a male but I don't know how, or who." Draco said. His normally cool façade was missing as he still had not gotten that part of himself completely under Malfoy control.

"Well, let's see…" Pansy and Blaise both got this weird look on their faces and each boy sighed. Here they go again, they would have to sit through another _girly_ moment. Of course, Draco thought, if his mate was a male, maybe he needed to listen to them more often. He hadn't the first clue about what another male wanted, let alone how to go about giving it too them. Did he treat his mate like he treated his male friends? Oh God, he was going to have to talk to both of them privately. He so didn't want Vince and Greg there for that conversation.

For the rest of the trip they listened to a critical rundown of each Slytherin male in their year. Worryingly, none of the ones mentioned drew a response of any kind from Draco. If none of their year did anything for the Veela, was he going to be a cradle robber?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry stayed in his hiding place until the bell rang that signaled that there was twenty minutes left before they reached Hogwarts. He walked slowly back to the compartment that his friends were in. He knocked once on the door and waited, he just knew that they were snogging in there and though he loved his friends very much he was in no way wanting to see them shag.

He grinned at Ron's obviously shagged appearance when the other boy opened the door. Not even bothering to hide his grin or the teasing tone in his voice he said, "we have about fifteen minutes to change guys."

"Harry!" Hermione cried out her face reddening. Harry chuckled at them both but said nothing else about their appearance.

"Sorry, guys," he teased one more time before he let it go, "I just couldn't pass up teasing you."

Though his face was red, Ron grinned at Harry. Hermione just stared at him before snorting and turned to get her school robes. They changed and talked quietly about little things as they waited for the train to stop.

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed as they were about to leave the train, "we didn't get our visit from the resident ferret."

"Ron!" Hermione admonished as she swatted at his arm. "Stop calling him names, its juvenile."

Harry shrugged his shoulders uncaringly not answering Ron. He really didn't care. "So?"

"So? Come on Harry, we didn't get to hex him before the Welcoming Feast. It's like tradition!" Ron pouted as he stomped from the train.

Harry shared a look with Hermione and then turned to the carriages. Without looking he could feel the Thestrels watching him. He could always feel them watching him ever since they had ridden them to the Ministry. It made his skin crawl.

As he stepped into a waiting carriage he was hit with another spike of uncontrollable need and he staggered into the carriage. He managed to laugh it off with Ron about how he needed to relearn walking instead of flying each year and as he sat he made sure to situate his cloak to cover his erection. He tried to ignore Hermione's questioning looks and concentrated on gaining control.

This spike was different from the first one, it seemed more physical than the mental one of before. As much as he hated it, he was going to have to see Dumbledore soon if things kept going this way. He really loved that old man but sometimes he barely was able to restrain himself from poking out both of his irritating twinkling, _knowing_, eyes.

So lost in his thoughts it was easy for him to maintain his polite exterior and tone. Before he knew it the Sorting Hat was done singing and all the new firsties had been sorted. The food appearing before him brought him out of his thoughts long enough for him to fill his plate and start eating before he was lost once again in his fleeting thoughts.

There was a small spike during dinner but this one wasn't bad as it seemed to only be concerned with need, not a specific need, just an inkling that there _was_ a need.

"Harry?" Ron said loudly as he thumped him on the arm.

Harry's head snapped up and his confused gaze landed on his best friends. Both Ron and Hermione were looking at him strangely. "Uh?"

"Dinners over mate, time to go to the Tower." Ron said slowly. They had been calling Gryffindor Tower that since second year. The Slytherins called the dungeons the Pit, the Ravenclaws called their floors the Nest, and the Hufflepuffs called their tower the Den.

"Yeah, okay," Harry said absently as he absently got up and made his way to the Tower. He missed the concerned looks the two shared before they left. He decided, just in that instant not to go to Dumbledore, yet. He would wait and if it got to much for him to handle, then and only then would he take it to The Twink.

As he walked along the corridor Harry grinned to himself at the name that they had come up with last year when it seemed the Headmasters eyes never stopped that damn twinkling and that secretive smile was plastered on his face constantly. He loved the old man, sometimes, he really did, but sometimes he just got on his nerves.

Harry decided to spend some time in the common room with his friends before he went to his own room to sleep. After only fifteen minutes he was itching to get out of there but he forced himself to stay longer. Hermione was already looking at him strangely and he didn't need her on his case right now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Welcoming Feast flew by as Draco concentrated on trying to find his mate. He grew frustrated with the fact he couldn't and mad at himself that he was even looking. He paid no attention to who was sorted where as he had decided his successor would take care of them. Greenleaf was not as charismatic as Draco, but then again he wasn't a Malfoy either. Draco had picked him, not because he came from the most prominent family but because of his cool head in times of stress, something he knew that they would need until Potter finished off the Dark Lord.

They left the feast, Draco only slightly pissed about the spike that had made him lose his appetite, and headed down to the Pit. The room grew quiet the minute he stepped in. Greenleaf was the only one not in their year still in the room. He turned and with another nod for Greenleaf to follow made his way to his private room. He knew without looking that his friends would follow.

As soon as his door was closed and warded, Blaise threw up another mini-ward and he sighed with relief as his Veela senses quieted now that they couldn't sense is mate.

"Any problems?" Draco asked Greenleaf.

"A few were scared but other than that it went fine." Steven Greenleaf was a short, stocky, boy that needed a good acne potion which he kept refusing every time Draco offered one. With his short brown hair, dark brown eyes, and chubby cheeks he looked like a cuddly teddy bear. His exterior belied his hard inner core, he was a Slytherin to the bone. He exuded a calmness that helped when he had to deal with the frightened children.

That was one of the reasons he had been picked as the next Prince. He was only a third year, Draco himself had been one of the younger Prince's chosen as he was chosen in second year, but he'd always had the showing of someone years older. His intelligent gaze took in everything and his mouth was shut until something needed to be said, another quality that had helped in his choosing. Draco studied him and decided that this year he would be relinquishing all but the more important duties into his very competent hands.

"Good, we will talk in the morning." Draco dismissed him. With a nod he left and once again Draco was glad of his choice.

"He will serve them well." Vince said when the door had shut after the younger boys departure.

"He will." Draco agreed.

"You okay?" Blaise asked as she settled onto one of the sofas before the fire. Draco always had a fire going in his room because he didn't like to be cold. Dungeons were not known for their warmth.

"Yeah." Draco said with a sigh as he sat next to her. He waited until everyone had sat down before speaking again. "There was one spike at dinner but it wasn't bad."

"What are you going to do now?" Vince asked with a scowl.

"Nothing I can do. There were too many students to single anyone out. I will just have to wait until I can do that." Draco's shrug was a study in nonchalant but it fooled no one.

"You know we will help in any way." Pansy said with a smile. "Now-"

Draco tuned out her gossiping and tried to concentrate on his chosen but all he felt was a sense of wrongness that was beginning to worry him. What the hell was wrong with his mate?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The week passed as all first weeks do when school starts back. With a lot of complaining, a lot of homework, and little sleep.

Harry was exhausted from all the extra training and the only time he got to see anyone else was at meal times or in the classes that they shared. If he wasn't too tired to just stop by the kitchen and get some food on the way to his room where he showered and then fell into bed in a deep sleep. He was more tired than he had ever been but it came with a sense of accomplishment. He was doing well in all of his classes and the extra training was coming along easily, sometimes too easily. But he didn't want to look that gift horse in the mouth and ruin it so he didn't tell anyone about the increase in his magic.

Besides, who would he tell? Dumbledore would only make him train harder and he wasn't sure that was possible. Hermione would look at him quizzically and then mutter something and go to the library to try to find out why. Ron would shrug and pat him on the back all the while unable to hide his jealousy. Snape would sneer at him and degrade him even more. And Lupin would want to bloody _talk_ about it.

So, he kept his mouth shut and his new strength to himself.

It was Saturday and he had promised Ron that they would get together to talk about the Quidditch team. For some odd reason he wasn't really in the mood to talk about Quidditch. He still had that extra paper for Astronomy due on Monday and he had promised The Twink he would practice the new spell on his own this weekend. He already knew the spell but he was tempted to use that excuse to get out of the meeting with Ron. Harry missed Ron but he also knew that Ron was wrapped so hard around Hermione right now you couldn't separate them for more than a few minutes and that was just too draining on his nerves right now.

He didn't begrudge his friends each other but sometimes, when the pang in his chest got to much to bear, he didn't like them all that much.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first week back for Draco was not one he wanted to ever repeat. During the day he was able to put on the appearance that nothing was off with him. His Malfoy upbringing and his House pride kept him from blathering like an idiot every time a spike hit him. He and his friends had tried to keep an eye out for anyone else acting strange at the same time he did, but they saw nothing.

By Wednesday he was a walking wreak. He barely managed to pay attention in class and only the quick thinking of his friends kept the teachers off his back. The only class he had any respite in was potions and his Godfather was only lenient to a point and he was sure he was fast reaching that place. The nights were the worst. He hid behind the ward that Blaise would throw up each night. He had stopped sleeping by Thursday and eating by the following Monday.

Only he knew what he really looked like behind the glamour he cast each morning. His hair was now limp and dull. His skin was sallow and he kept a constant sheen of sweat that wouldn't go away. His once vibrant silver eyes were now dull and lifeless. His hands shook all the time now and tears were never far from falling. There was a constant ache right between his eyes that never went away and the empty hole in his soul where his mate was suppose to be was raw and painful. He could feel his mate but he couldn't find him and the Madness was only hovering in the background until it could break free and consume him. His dreams had turned dark again and most mornings he woke with a cry on his lips and tears on his pillow. He absolutely hated it, he had been so adamant that he didn't want a mate and right now he would give anything he possessed to have him in his arms.

In the presence of the other students he was the same Malfoy. He used his rage and confusion about his mate to fuel his encounters with the other students and so far no one had discovered his secret. Not that the Malfoys had ever denied the fact that they were Veela, they were of the ruling class, so that was impossible to do, but they also didn't bring unwanted attention to the fact either.

He had already gotten one letter from his father stating that the Queen and King had inquired about who his mate was and wanted to know why he had yet to make a claim. All Draco could tell his father was that his mate was here at Hogwarts but he had yet to single the person out. He glossed over some points and embellished others so that his parents wouldn't worry. He had a sneaking suspicion that his father was also writing to his friends but he couldn't confirm that and they wouldn't tell him even if he asked, so he let it go. He knew that the regularly scheduled firecall from his mother come Sunday would reveal his written charade but he still had hope that he would find his mate before then.

It was Vince's idea that started the fight that first Friday afternoon back with Ron Weasley. Draco had wanted nothing more than to run to his room and hide behind a very strong ward but Vince had pointed out that questions had been heard about his lack of violence toward that one particular individual. He could have cared less, really, but he complied.

And ended up in the infirmary for the weekend, along side Weasley, healing up a broken wrist and various cuts and bruises. Weasley had a broken nose, his fourth since coming to Hogwarts, and more cuts and bruises than he did so he called that one a victory in his favor.

That was the first night he had spent without the help of the ward and by Saturday morning the Madness had started. The spikes weren't enough to keep it at bay without the protection of the ward.

It was Weasley that woke him up from his screaming Saturday night by a hard slap across the face.

Weasley stared at him, not looking the least remorseful about his hand printed face, as Draco sputtered in anger.

Draco's eyes were wild and it took him a moment to realize where he was. As soon as he did he raised startled eyes to Ron and scowled. "Weasley?" Even he could hear the frightened tone in his voice and he wanted to kick himself for showing weakness in front of the Gryffindor.

"You were screaming loud enough to wake _me_, Malfoy and that is no mean feat." He said with no hint of apology in his tone.

"I-" Draco stopped himself, had he really been about to apologize? To Weasley?

Draco could feel the darkness at the back of his mind and he knew what had happened. He had tried to connect with his mate and had, once again, found nothing. All he did was nod to the other boy and then turned to face the wall and tried to go back to sleep. He ignored Weasleys very loud sigh and listened to the creaking of the other bed as he laid down. He waited until even breathing could be heard from behind him before he let the first tear fall.

His alona was here, he knew he was, so why couldn't he find him?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry spent his first weekend back at Hogwarts hiding in his room. He told himself he wasn't hiding but he knew he was. Three spikes during the week had left him running the gauntlet between sadness and uncontrollable lust. Thankfully the lust part had been at night when he was already in his room. Truthfully, he had liked that one, possibly more than he should. There had been one spike Friday night that had left him crying, huddled in a corner, and for the first time scared about what the spikes meant.

He had doubled the strength of his Occlumency after that one and the subsequent spikes the rest of the weekend and the start of the second week back had been small but he had been left with a sense of wrongness.

It was Friday night, their second week back, and he had decided, for the third time that week, to skip dinner and just pick up something in the kitchens before his first Advanced Astronomy class that night. He didn't eat breakfast, all he needed was coffee in the morning, he had lunch with Dumbledore during daily training, and though he was suppose to go to dinner, sometimes he was just too tired.

He was looking forward to this class as he hadn't seen Professor Sinistra since last year. As he walked up to the classroom one level below the Astronomy Tower he prayed that there would be no spikes during class of the erection making variety. Though he had come to like those he had yet to have one in the company of others beside the first one when getting into the carriages the first day back.

Before he could walk into the classroom he heard his name called. He turned to see Ron run up panting. Harry waited, crossed arms and small smile, as he got his breath back.

"You know," Harry said with an obviously fake tone of concern, "I can take you to Madam Pomfrey if you need me too, though you were just in there last weekend."

"Wanker." Ron gasped out as his red face started to return to normal.

Harry grinned, "not lately, you offering?"

Ron grinned and hit him in the shoulder. Before he could say anything though they were interrupted by a cough and Harry looked to see Theodore Nott standing there.

"Yes?" Harry asked in his polite tone of voice he used all the time now.

"Hi." Nott said as his face turned beet red.

Harry exchanged a confused look with Ron and then answered with a nod. He saw Nott's face get even redder as he looked at him. He was taller than Harry and very stocky, some would even call him fat if it wasn't obvious he was all muscle. His eyes were a warm brown and his hair, cut into a bowl shape on his head, was a light brown.

Ron glared at the Slytherin and snarled, "what do you want Snake?"

Nott looked at Ron disdainfully before turning his still embarrassed face back to Harry. "I was wondering what Harry," here Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise at the use of his first name, "was doing this weekend?"

Ron's eyes bugged out and it was clear he was going to say something rude but Harry beat him to it first, "I have training, Nott."

"Oh. Okay." Nott said and then turned and walked into the classroom.

Ron and Harry stood there for a few minutes before Ron asked, "what the hell was that?"

"No clue." Harry said with a shrug, "don't really care either. Look, I can't come to practice tomorrow, Twink's got me working on a new thing."

Ron nodded, "I'll take care of it. Sunday?"

Harry nodded back as they walked into class, "yeah. My room, say around 3?"

"I'll let Hermione know."

They stopped talking as the teacher walked into the room. Professor Sinistra looked as she always did; black hair pulled back into a tight bun, dark, tight, purple robes adorned her tall skinny frame and she looked, at least to Harry, like the wicked witch that Dorothy encountered in the muggle movie 'Somewhere over the Rainbow'. Her disposition was completely opposite that witch though, at least to her favorite student, one Harry Potter. Her austere appearance belied her age though, and Harry knew she did it on purpose. She was barely out of her twenty's, she was thirty-one if he remembered correctly.

She caught his eye and nodded back toward her office and he acknowledge her summons after class with a nod of his own.

Class flew by and Harry said goodbye to Ron before heading to the front of the classroom to talk to the teacher. He missed Notts longing look but Ron didn't and he made sure to remember to keep a good eye out for that brewing situation.

As soon as they were alone, Harry pulled her into a hug while whispering, "Sin, I missed you so," before leaning down to give her a kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I want to say thank you to all of you that took the time to let me know if I should continue or not. The amount of reviews were staggering and completely blew me away. THANK YOU.

If you haven't already guessed, I was very anxious about starting this kind of story as it can either go good and be great or turn bad and suck. Thank you for letting me know that it started out good and I hope that this chapter continued it.

ENJOY!

LMG


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

__

**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**

MY STORY IS AU.

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER THREE**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

The Air Clan have pale blue eyes and they can turn into a bird like creature, with a hawk like nose, sharp teeth, wings, and talons, when they are angered or their mate is threatened. They like to wear clothes that are adorned with feathers and that are flowing and airy. They find their mate through the mate's smell. Their affiliation is normally neutral.

The Water Clan have pale green eyes and they can turn into an amphibious creature, with webbed feet and hands and gills, when they are angered or their mate is threatened. They like to wear clothes that are adorned with shells and are tight and formfitting. They find their mate through their mate's blood. Their affiliation is normally dark.

The Earth Clan have pale grey or brown eyes and they do not turn into any creature when they are angered or their mate is threatened, instead they have immense strength and can turn invisible if the situation calls for it. They wear whatever is the fashion of the time as they are also the most visible of the Veela Clans. They find their mate through spikes of need. Their affiliation is normally light.

Once a mate is recognized, by either smell, blood, or spike, these are moments of intense sexual or emotional feelings that strike at random, or when the Veela's side is searching for his mate. The mate is then given the chance to deny or accept the bond. Each Clan has a different form of acceptance; the Air Clan accepts by the sexual act, the Water Clan by an exchange of blood during the sexual act, and the Earth Clan accepts verbally and a with kiss. In only the Earth Clan is no sexual act required to bond. No Veela has ever survived a refusal.

Excerpt from: The Veela- Beauty or Beast.

By: Keneth lazaru'ian Kian

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Draco had been released from the infirmary first thing on Sunday morning. He had quickly made his way back to the Pit in just enough time to catch his mother's firecall. He settled into the chair right in front of the fire, after having set distraction and privacy charms, and waited for her face to show in the flames. He was staring off into space and missed her first call of his name.

Narcissa Malfoy took this time to study her son and she immediately realized that his friend's report had been correct; he had been using a glamour on himself before he let himself be seen each morning and if he had eaten in the last few days, she would have been very surprised.

"Draco?" She called softly and watched as he slowly came out of his daze and returned her regard.

"Mum?" He asked before he shook his head and straightened in the chair.

"Oh, Draco, what have you been doing to yourself?"

"I'm okay, Mum. Really. Just…just tired is all." Draco tried to reassure her but he knew he fell short of his goal. He was tired. He was also hungry, needed a shower, oh, and the Madness wasn't a thing of the past anymore. He felt like falling to the floor and throwing a right spectacular tantrum for his mate, complete with kicking legs and flailing arms and fake tears, except he didn't think they would be fake. He would do that, if it would do any good, except he knew it wouldn't so he let the Madness simmer on the outskirts of his mind.

"You haven't found him yet?" His mother asked softly, understanding in her tone and her expression.

"No." It was a simple answer and was the only answer he had to offer her.

"And the Madness?"

Draco flinched; he had wanted to hold off on that part of the conversation for a few minutes at least. But he wouldn't lie to his parents about this, it was too dangerous to do as his very life depended on finding his mate. "Just on the surface."

Narcissa let the tears fall from her sad eyes as she took in her son attempting to deal with something she had no knowledge of. She was a Veela, yes, but she didn't have the dominant gene. 'Maybe he should be talking to his father', she thought, 'but after I have my time with him'.

"You have not felt him?"

"I have." Draco admitted softly, the hurt and longing in his voice so painful for a mother to hear, "but I just can't find him."

"I am sure you have done everything that you can think of to do." Narcissa reassured him. "We know he is at Hogwarts, it is just that you have had no contact with him yet."

Draco nodded in an attempt to placate his mother's fears. He didn't see how, but she was right. If he was around his mate when a spike hit then he would be able to find them, spikes were how they found their _alona_, if a spike wasn't happening a Veela had no way of knowing who his mate was. The only logical conclusion to his whole problem was he had yet to be near his mate when one hit. That was the only thing that made sense. His mate, even with the natural block he seemed to have on his mind, would still feel the emotional flare and if Draco was within seeing distance of his _bedine_ when a spike hit…there was no way he wouldn't know him. What they couldn't understand is _how_ he had seemingly missed his mate each time this occurred.

"What is that on your hand Draco?" His mother's sharp voice broke into his thoughts.

He absently looked down to his hand and saw where Madam Pomfrey had cleaned the cuts but had refused to heal them. "I had an…encounter that caused me to be in the infirmary yesterday, that's all Mum." Draco tried to make light of it but knew, by the glint in his mother's eye, that he had missed his goal again.

"Fighting! What have I told you about that Draco?" She snapped. Draco tuned out the lecture and just nodded every once in a while to show that he was listening. They had had numerous conversations where she lectured and he nodded and then he would ignore her and carry on with his little encounters with Weasley. He really disliked that red headed prat.

"I did not start it, Mum." He protested weakly. He had, at Vince's prodding, but he wasn't going to tell her that. "It was Weasley and you know how we rub each other."

Narcissa nodded. No matter how much she tried to get him to see reason, she knew her son would never like the youngest Weasley. They had never figured out why he had such hatred for the boy and Draco always refused to talk about it.

"Just be careful Draco. Your father is waiting to talk to you." She sighed as she made to pull away so that Lucius could take her place. "I love you, son. Ain e Shialla sini'n asa."

"Sini'n asa, Mum. Love you." Draco replied to the standard goodbye as he readied himself for his firecall with his father. He could handle his mother with a pout and a tired face but that would never work with his father.

"Draco?"

"Father."

"I see you have not been straight forward with us in your letters, son. Care to tell me why?" Lucius asked bluntly. He had listened to his wife and son's conversation and was not in the mood to pull any pleasantries. He wanted answers, now. He refused to lose his son without a fight.

"I did not want to worry you father." Draco said quietly.

"Worry me? I am not worried, Draco." Draco heaved a sigh of relief that was quickly stopped by his father's next words. "I am terrified! I do not want to lose you, son."

"I have no plans to go anywhere, trust me Dad."

"I trust you, Draco. It's these other idiots I have no faith in." It was one of Lucius Malfoy's regular sayings and Draco couldn't help but smile to hear it.

Lucius let his mask fall as his fear for his son settled heavy in his heart. "Draco, is there anything I can do?"

Draco shook his head, "no, Dad. Nothing I can do either. The spikes…they come at times when he is just not around. I don't know what to do."

"Are you sleeping behind the wards?"

"Yes, except for last night. I was in the infirmary." He held up a hand to stop the lecture before it started, "Mum already read me the Riot Act, but it was necessary to do it. People were beginning to talk."

Draco knew that Lucius would understand that he had to keep up the Malfoy and Slytherin tradition. He took his father's sharp nod as reluctant acceptance of the fight.

"And the Madness?" Lucius repeated his wife's earlier question. He knew he would get a more complete answer from Draco than Narcissa had.

"I-its right there Dad." Draco said softly. "I'm scared."

Lucius knew how much it had cost his son to admit that, and it also told him that the Madness had a firmer grip on him than they had first thought. He had been talking to Toshiri for the last few days but even he had come up with nothing that could help save Draco. Veela didn't survive either the Madness or the denial. It was a fact of life for them. Never, well not in a long while, had a Veela ever gone this long after their eighteenth birthday without finding their mate.

Veela were normally born around September, as the fertile period was the month of January. Draco was born in August because Narcissa had been in an accident that had sent her into premature labor. Lucius had almost lost both of them. He felt, and Toshiri agreed, that that was the reason why Draco was still able to function so well after this long. Not that this was well, it was just better than it could actually be. Normal Veela males went through this in September so they could only postulate that he could hold on until the end of that month, after that, they just didn't know. The only problem with that theory was- they had no proof to back it up. Draco _was_ experiencing the Madness but not as strongly as it should have been this long after his eighteenth birthday.

"Symptoms?" He tried to keep his voice even and calm but he was sure Draco heard the waver in it.

Draco looked away. He didn't want to tell his parents how close he was to losing it. He was silent too long as Lucius said his name sharply and he reluctantly turned back to face his father. In a voice that was as emotionless as he had ever heard from Draco, Lucius listened in horror as he listed the classic symptoms of the last stages of the Madness.

"I stopped eating a few days ago, I don't know when, Pansy could tell you as she rags me enough about it. Sleeping went sometime before that. Chills and fever at the same time. Sweating, confusion, fear, all of that and more. Shaking, mostly at night. It's the screaming that I can't deal with. Day and night, always at the back of my mind. My Veela side keeps searching and when it slams up against my mate's wall, it starts screaming and my Human side can't cope. Thankfully, I usually pass out at night when it all gets to be too much. The wards are a big help but even still…"

Lucius was silent until something that Draco said registered in his shocked mind. "Your mate's wall? Draco, behind the ward, you shouldn't feel him!"

"I don't, Dad. But I was not behind a ward last night. I reached for him and…it was like hitting a wall. There were brief flashes of…" Draco sighed and wearily settled his head back against the chair, "there was darkness but not darkness. I felt safe and not. And there was something…a wrongness. And then nothing. It was as if a switch had been thrown and there was just nothing."

Draco smirked, "Weasley had to wake me up. Apparently he is a heavy sleeper and he was offended that my screaming woke him up."

Lucius eyed him as he snapped, "I am not interested in the sleeping habits of Weasley's young spawn."

"I know Dad, it was just funny. I found myself almost apologizing to him." Draco shuddered in disgust.

Lucius sneered but said nothing about that, instead he brought the conversation back to were it needed to be. "Do you think a stronger ward will help?"

"It might. I need some sleep Dad." Draco hated to admit it. As a Veela he couldn't take a dreamless sleep potion, they were not effective on his kind and frankly, he hated the taste of them.

"I will send one to Blaise." He knew that out of all of Draco's friends, Blaise was the one strongest in charms and Pansy had a mind that could soak up and remember anything it read. He did feel sorry for Greg and Vince as they had to play the dumb goons to keep themselves safe. He knew that they were both extremely intelligent and that one day, Vince would make an excellent Potions Master and Greg a fine politician. Draco was a fine Quidditch player and would go far in that sport even without winning against that blasted Potter boy. "Go and try to get some sleep. Rest today, son."

"I'll try, Dad."

"I love you, Draco. Ain e Shialla sini'n asa."

"Love you too. Dad. Sini'n asa."

Draco watched as his father's head disappeared from the fire and he slumped back in his chair. He had known that one look at him and his mother would know he had been lying. He was glad that she feared for him about this Veela thing or he would have been actually punished for fighting with Weasley, instead of just getting the familiar lecture and glare. He cancelled the charms around him and slowly made his way to his room. He felt the ward that Blaise had put up as he walked in and he sighed in relief as some of the pressure was taken off his stressed mind. Maybe by tonight, he thought as he settled onto his bed, he would be behind a ward strong enough to help him, he did not want a repeat of Saturday night, he wasn't sure he would survive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

True to his word, Draco's father sent Blaise a stronger ward. The first time she cast it Draco sighed in joy.

"You'll sleep tonight, 'Ko?" Blaise asked with a knowing raise of her eyebrow.

Draco felt his face flush as he nodded. His friends had known that he had been glamouring himself before leaving his room each morning but it was his mother's howler last night that really pushed that fact home for the five friends. He flinched as he thought about what she had said.

**'DRACO MALFOY IF I FIND OUT THAT YOU HAVE BEEN GLAMOURING YOURSELF AGAIN YOU WILL HAVE NEED OF THAT SKILL ONCE I GET THROUGH WITH YOU. AND STOP FIGHTING!'**

The message had been short, sweet, and loud. It had also caused his friends to glare angrily at him and give him the silent treatment until he had apologized, profusely. Blaise had glared at him the longest before looking to the short note from Lucius that had come with the howler.

"You can only use this for two days before we have to go back to using the weaker one for a day." Was all that she said before casting the ward.

That had been two days ago and he was about to spend his first night under the weaker ward. Under the stronger one he had been able to eat a little before falling into a deep sleep. He did look better and he only had to use a small glamour to cover his weight loss and dark circles under his eyes which he still had, though he was now able to sleep easier.

He didn't look forward to this night. He knew that the weaker ward would not totally contain his Veela side from searching for his mate. He had taken every opportunity, even skipping meals, to get as much sleep behind the stronger ward before tonight.

As the night wore on and he started to shake, Draco knew that no matter how much he had rejected the idea of a mate before, it was a better option that laying on the floor of his room screaming his lungs raw.

It took more than a simple glamour, come Wednesday morning, to cover the ravages of the Madness . Draco was getting weaker and he knew it. And was well aware that his friends knew it too. He could see the concern in their eyes but he refused to let them talk to him. Right now, he had to concentrate on finding is _alona_. Even if it killed him.

Friday night came and he was too tired to go to his first nightly Astronomy Class so he begged Professor Snape for an excuse, and it was only with a threatened firecall to his father that he got one. He sent the note to Professor Sinistra and hid behind his weak ward. He hated missing the first night Astronomy Class but he was so tired that he was willing to take a detention if Professor Sinistra decided to give him one. It wasn't one of his favorite classes but he did enjoy it better than some. He finally got to sleep about the time the class would have been over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as they were alone, Harry pulled her into a hug while whispering, "Sin, I missed you so," before leaning down to give her a kiss on the tip of her nose.

She smiled and swatted at the back of his head, "stop being funny HJ, you're not good at it. Come, sit, and tell me of your summer since we didn't get to talk after Tuesday's class."

Harry sent her a sheepish smile rubbing the back of his head as he took off his school cloak and draped it over the back of a chair. He sat down in his chair by the fire, before speaking in a soft tone, very different from the polite one he had been using with anyone else. "Sorry about that Sin; Twink had me in extra training all this week to see what I had remembered from last year. I swear I think he is trying to kill me."

Sinistra handed Harry a steaming cup of black coffee as he didn't drink tea, and just raised an eyebrow at that comment. She settled in her own chair before the fire and said with a grin towards her young friend, "I don't think his goal is to kill you, Harry, but make you so tired you can't get into any mischief."

Harry scowled at her, "funny!"

She hummed at him as she sipped her tea but didn't answer him in any other way. She took the time to observe him: his summer must have treated him well if the soft golden tan and the well defined muscles she could see were a clue. He must have played again this summer. That was good, she thought; give him something to keep his mind off of this Dark Lord business. But there was in him a new look she didn't like. He had retreated again. Oh, he was still the same Harry, but there was a reserve about him now that wasn't there at the end of last year.

"Did you play?" She asked as she sipped her tea. She couldn't put her finger on what it was about him that was telling her that something was wrong but she always went with her gut feelings when it came to Harry, and she was seldom wrong.

Harry nodded but didn't answer as his gaze seemed to be caught in the fire.

"And?" Harry sent her a look of apology at her sharper tone before he answered.

"First."

"Congratulations are in order then." Sinistra raised her cup to him in acknowledgement and he grinned at her.

"Will you be going?" She watched as his grin quickly faded.

"Ah, no, it was time to come here…so…" Harry shrugged as he blew off the fact that his team would be going to the Nationals without him. He had helped them get that far and they had not been happy when he had told them that he couldn't go with them. This was just another thing that would pull Harry from the Wizard World. She just wished that there was something that she could do for the growing discontent she knew he was experiencing. She had tried, countless times, to get him to talk to her about it but he would just shrug and go silent on her.

"When is it?"

"In two weeks, on Saturday. London." Harry's tone was now short and she could tell it was affecting him even though he was trying hard not to show it.

"Perhaps I can get you there if-" Was all that she managed to get out before he had launched himself at her. She couldn't breath he was holding her so tight. "Hey, what's wrong?"

He shook his head and didn't answer. He couldn't answer. She was offering him something that Dumbledore had denied him and even if she couldn't get it approved the fact that she offered in the first place meant more to him than anything else had lately.

Harry held her tight for a few more minutes before returning to his own chair with a small smile. He was not sure she could convince Dumbledore to let him go, but the fact that she was going to try was enough for him. He made a mental note to go to the infirmary and send off an owl to Dude when he left here to let him know he might get to go. He sighed as he stared into the fire, unaware of the pensive look on his face.

"How's Da-" She started to ask when Harry's tense voice interrupted her.

"Don't."

Now she was confused, her last letter from him had had glowing reports and now, this coldness. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"And I take it that that was the problem, eh?" Sinistra asked shrewdly.

Harry tried to stop flinch but he was unsuccessful. "Not for me."

"I see."

Harry could feel her staring at him, willing him to answer this question. How could he say that it just didn't _feel_ right? That no matter what had happened, and nothing _had _happened, the feelings that he had wanted to have, were not there. He looked for them, searched frantically for them, but they were still absent. And could not be forced, he had tried, tried and hurt someone who hadn't deserved to be hurt. When he spoke his voice was bitter and thoughtful at the same time.

"It wasn't _there_, Sin. No matter how hard I tried, it just wasn't there."

"What wasn't, Harry?" Harry could hear the worry in her tone but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Feelings, Sin, there were none." A frown crossed his face and he added as if in an afterthought, "no matter how much I tried to force it."

"You can't force love Harry. It either is or it isn't there."

"I know." Harry whispered as he took a sip of his still hot coffee. "But that doesn't mean I didn't want it to be there, Sin."

"I am sure you did, Harry." Sinistra kept her voice light and warm so that she didn't push him back into silence. She let the silence linger for a few minutes before she deemed it safe to speak again.

"Something else is wrong." It wasn't a question; Sinistra _knew_ that there was something he wasn't telling her.

"It's nothing." Harry tried to brush it off.

"It is, I know you Harry, something is bothering you."

"Besides the whole Voldemort thing or the 'I want to have feelings for you but they just aren't there' thing, you mean?" Harry sneered.

"Don't sass me HJ." Sinistra snapped as she levelled a pointed look at him.

"Sorry." He mumbled. He did not want to talk about what was happening to him. These spikes, that's what he had started calling them as he knew no other word that would describe them better, were not dangerous he didn't think.

"Harry," Sinistra's voice was gentle but firm, "talk to me."

Harry sighed and looked away. He let his gaze settle on the crackling fire and he slumped in his chair even more than normal. His earlier resolve to tell nothing to anyone dwindling in the face of Sinistra's own resolve to find out what was wrong with him. Harry didn't _want _to tell her anything but she was better than Dumbledore any day of the week. Harry was keeping him for a last resort. It was minutes before he spoke and his voice was tired and seemed to shake every few words. Sinistra listened in shock.

"Last year, something started happening to me. I call them spikes; they are some kind of need... At first, they were small and easily ignored. Over the summer they grew in intensity until the last few were so overwhelming that…" Harry stopped there and was quiet for a few minutes before his face paled and he spoke again in a softer tone, "I find myself looking forward to the next one." Now, Harry's face flushed pink, "there are many different kins of need. They range from fear, longing, desire, and love or to a mixture of them all."

"Have you gone to the Headmaster about them?" Sinistra couldn't keep the worry from her tone. He had described something she had never heard of and things didn't just _happen_ to Harry for any reason.

"No." Harry's tone was flat and brooked no argument.

"And why not?"

"I don't trust him." Harry's voice was hard and his expression set.

"I know, but, he may be able to help you find out what is happening." Sinistra tried to sooth away the anger she could feel rising in him. She knew that he didn't trust the Headmaster anymore and she also knew that he had every reason not to. But, he was the Headmaster and he was considered very intelligent.

"He may, but until I am unable to handle it by myself, I am not going to him; besides, I don't think they are a bad thing." Harry felt his face flush as he remembered the spike that had hit last Friday night, it had left him crying, but with an unfulfilled need that he really, really didn't want to even think about right now.

"You don't? Why?" Sinistra narrowed her gaze at him as she took in his suddenly flushed face.

"I just don't Sin, I can't explain it so could we just drop it for right now?" He pleaded with her and she decided to let the matter drop as it was apparent that it was upsetting him.

"Okay. I have something for you." Sinistra said instead as she handed him a folder that had been sitting on the table beside her.

Harry took the folder and stared at it curiously, before opening it and beginning to read. When he was finished he looked up at her in astonishment and undisguised hope, "what…," he licked his suddenly dry lips and tried again, "what is this?"

"That," she said, with a smug tone and a huge grin that lit her normally severe face into one of almost beauty, "my dear Harry, is a scholarship that is only waiting for your signature of acceptance."

"Where?"

"Oxford."

Harry put the papers slowly back into the folder and then hugged it to his chest for a few moments. "How?" He asked weakly.

"Pulled a few strings." Sinistra shrugged it off. She had been happy to do this for him and she was not going to let him turn down this once in a lifetime chance. "All you have to do is sign and it will all be finalized."

For the second time that night she found herself with an armful of her young charge. He had never before been this affectionate and she wanted to make this moment last for as long as she could.

"Thank you." Harry mumbled into her shoulder as they held each other. Sinistra felt her heart reach out to him as always. She knew that for him to say that, to anyone, meant that he knew she cared. Harry didn't say 'thank you' very often, it was always 'thanks', never the full meaning of the word. She smiled down at him gently and pulled him even closer, though she knew she would be sore in the morning, "you are very welcome."

Once he had calmed down they talked for a few more minutes and then he left to go back to his own room. She smiled to herself and vowed that she would get him to that game, no matter how much she had to argue with Albus about it.

'That boy needs something to hold him here', she thought wistfully, 'and I am not enough to do it.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He made his way to the owlery when he left the astronomy Tower to get that owl off to Dude. He couldn't wait to play again! He could already feel the itch and he knew he was going to miss it when the season was over. They were good, all of them on the team were, or they wouldn't have made it as far as they had.

After sending his message he decided he was tired but not sleepy so he made his way to the pitch. He walked up to the stands and sat at the top of the Gryffindor side. He sighed as his mind raced from one thought to another. He needed to clear it and he knew just the way to do it. He took out the bag he always carried with him, pulled out his shrunken spare broom, and expanded it. He had gotten the broom, along with another wand - that no one but Ollivander and he knew about - at the beginning of the summer when he had gotten his new glasses. In the bag, that was shrunk down and carried in his back pocket at all times, he kept a broom, his CD player, another set of glasses, his second wand and medical supplies.

He jumped from the stands and soared into the air. As he flew he turned to the loudest song on his CD, and lost himself in the sensations of flying. He dipped and turned, dropped and rolled, for over an hour before he slowed and just flew around the pitch. He let his mind fall to the conversation with Sin. He had learned the hard way not to trust anyone. And the one person he should trust the most, Dumbledore, he didn't. Oh, he knew that the Headmaster would not let anything happen to him, after all, if he was gone Voldemort would have free reign, but Harry just didn't _trust _him. The person he trusted the most was Sin and he only got to see her when he was at Hogwarts.

He didn't trust anyone, not even Ron and Hermione, not completely. He knew he should. But he had been hurt and deceived so many times by people that he just didn't care anymore. He would do what he had to do here and then he was gone. 'Be damned to the Wizard World', he thought viciously, 'they haven't done anything for me'! He was far safer at the Dursley's than here, even with the way they had used to treat him.

He flew for another fifteen minutes before flying back to his bag and re-shrinking his broom. He made sure to put everything back in the bag in the best order to keep it as flat as possible before he put the protection charm back on, so as not to break anything in it, and shrank it again and slipped it into his back pocket. He took his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map out of the other pocket, resized them, and made his way to his room for a hot shower and bed.

Harry didn't get much sleep on Friday night, nightmares of blackness and coldness and a huge gaping hole of loneliness, had kept him awake. Thankfully the spike that hit him at about 3 o'clock in the morning had been a faint one.

As he got up to go to training, he was once again reminded of what Sin had done for him, and he couldn't stop his grin. He was going to Oxford! He would leave the Wizard world behind without a backward glance and sod them all! He did a little happy mind dance. He wanted to spend some time with Hermione and Ron so he had gotten up early enough to have breakfast with them before training started for the day. Not that he ate breakfast; he really hated any kind of breakfast food that wasn't coffee.

He made his way down the crowded corridor, following the flow of traffic to the Great Hall. He had his head down so he missed the crowd of Slytherins, in front of him, that abruptly stopped for some odd reason. He glanced up just in time to avoid running into Goyle and made to go around them. He sighed as they started in on him; he hadn't really missed _this_.

"Where have you been hiding, Potter?" Crabbe sneered as all Malfoy did was stand there.

Harry noticed that the blonde Slytherin Prince, in the center of the group, looked very sick but he just didn't care to bring it up. "None of your business, Crabbe." Harry's tone was void of emotion and his body language clearly indicated he was bored.

"Must be hiding." Goyle said to the others and they all laughed meanly.

"Poor Little Gryffindor has to hide, he's so scared." Pansy mocked.

Harry stood there, face expressionless and raised an eyebrow at them all, "do you not have anything better to do? You might want to take a look at your friend there as he is looking a bit sick." He motioned to Malfoy, who did look a bit green around his mouth, as he turned to walk away.

As he did, he could have sworn he heard a whimper come from the unusually silent Slytherin. For a split second he fought the urge to turn back around and was relieved when he conquered it. The control he had over his Occlumency seemed harder to maintain at this moment than since the day he had learned it. 'Maybe I need to strengthen it again', he thought as he struggled to walk away. As he turned the corner to head to the Great Hall for dinner he felt a spike of wrongness hit him with such force he fell against the wall. He could hear the others talking, shrill voices that sounded concerned, but was unable to make out what they were saying for the ringing in his ears. This was new. He had never felt a spike like this. There had been a sense of wrongness for a while now but never in a spike. Maybe going to Dumbledore wouldn't be such a bad idea.

He struggled to breathe through it, but when it became apparent he was not going to be able to. He moved out of sight and slid down the wall behind a clanking man of armour. His vision started to fade in and out and the ringing in his ears got louder. He could not stop his moan of pain and then all of a sudden there was an intense spike of sexual need that brought a different moan from him. He had to get out of there! He knew there was a side passage further down the hall that would take him back to the Entrance Hall, so that he could go back to his room which was right next to the Tower.

Harry forced himself to stand and make his way, slowly, back to his room. So much for spending breakfast with his friends; he had a…problem he had to deal with first. He would just have to tell them at dinner.

If the Slytherins had not been so engrossed with Draco they might have seen what they were looking for. A boy with glassy eyes, flushed face, and unsteady walk. But they didn't see it in time to end the suffering of their friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had to practically carry Draco back to his room. By his moans he wasn't in any pain anyways. They laid him out on his bed and watched, all frantically worried, as he came out of the spike.

It took him a moment to get his bearings and his eyes flashed in anger, "why did you bring me here? He was there! I felt him!"

"There were too many people around, 'Ko." Greg said quietly as he tried to calm the enraged Veela down. "We didn't see anyone acting strange."

Draco groaned and slumped back onto the bed, "no one?" He asked plaintively.

Pansy sat beside him on the bed and ran a comforting hand up and down his arm, "no, love, we saw no one."

"If it hadn't been for Potter we might have seen who it was." Vince snapped.

Draco scowled in confusion, "Potter?" He didn't remember seeing Potter. He didn't remember getting up this morning let alone walking to the Great Hall for breakfast, all he remembered was a sea of blackness and a sense of wrongness that was frightening in its strength. The Madness was closing in on him, fast.

"Yeah we ran into him, had some fun." Vince said with a shrug.

"Actually he is the one that pointed out you looked sick, Draco." Blaise said in a soft voice. She was quite concerned for her oldest friend. She couldn't help him, none of them could; all they could do was be there for him. His mate was the only one who could help but they didn't know who that was.

"He saw past my glamour!" Draco's face echoed his shocked tone.

"Well, we all know he's powerful, Draco. It's no big deal. We'll get him next time." For a man who was normally calm and collected, Greg could be vindictive when he wanted to be.

Draco sighed and just nodded.

"So," Blaise said with a grin, "that was some spike, eh?"

They all laughed at the Veela's blush and he ushered them out the door and to the Great Hall for breakfast. It had been a doosie of a spike, he must agree, but that didn't mean they needed to bloody _talk _about it

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

See…ya'll should have known I was going to do them right. I, personally, don't see Harry with anyone other than Draco. ANYONE who has read my stories should know that.

Can anyone guess to which Clan the Malfoys belong?

This also should have explained the many questions you had as to why Draco can't tell that Harry is his mate. Harry has not been around Draco during the spikes; therefore, Draco can't tell that Harry is his mate. Only during a spike will he be able to sense him enough to find out who he is, and since Harry does not have regular classes and eats alone most of the time…hardly any interaction between them has occurred. The times they have met, no spikes.

I must apologize for the lateness of this chapter.

Honestly, people, we writers here are all writing out of character. Yes, Harry did seem obsessed with Malfoy but he is with Ginny too until the very end when he told he couldn't see her anymore.

But everything that we write is AU. EVERYTHING. The only one who can write canon is JKR herself and the last time I checked I wasn't her.

So, my theory is this: this story is for me to write and for you to read. That's it. End of story. No big deal.

I DO want everyone to read my story and I DO want everyone to like it. Just like JKR does. Though I didn't make 36 million dollars in less than 24 hours, I do love to write.

MY STORY IS AU. KAPEESH!

Please, just ENJOY.

LMG

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**SPOILERS**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**SPOILERS**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

I just finished Book 6 and I am sitting here in complete shock. I want to say that I believe that Dumbledore will come back but I do think he is truly dead. I felt pity for Draco and my anger at Snape is boundless.

I think Dumbledore was showing Harry all those things so that Harry would know what was needed. I also think that Dumbledore knew he was going to die. He knew and he wanted to give Harry as much information as was possible.

Harry not returning to Hogwarts and going to Godric's Hollow was a surprise. I have no thoughts about who R.A.B. is and can only think that it is an ally that Harry needs to find. After all, the note did say that he knew Voldemort's secret.

I sit here in shock and wonder what the hell am I doing? I am not sure if I am going to be writing anymore after this. I just seems...GOD! wrong somehow. I plan to spend the next few days reading my stories in the hopes that it will give me the incentive I need to continue. I love writing. I don't want to give up what I have started and I am sure many other authors are feeling the same way.

The one saving grace for me about all of this is Draco's obvious reluctance to kill Dumbledore. He was being forced to so that he could save his own life and that of his mother's. It is possible that he can be redeemed and there was something fishy about when Harry confronted Snape at the gates. He didn't WANT to curse Harry. In fact, he kept Harry from cursing him.

Dumbledore may well have been wrong about Snape, but then again maybe this was all part of the plan.

ARG! My head hurts just thinking about it so I am just going to stop. Please, take my ramblings as nothing and just remember, Harry has knowledge that Voldemort doesn't know that he has. We saw a glimpse into what made Voldemort like he is, and therein lies his defeat.

ENJOY!

LMG


	4. Chapter 4

****

HISTORY OF VEELAS

Veela's are purely magical creatures that live alongside Wizards. They consist of three clans; the Air, the Earth, and the Water Clan. All Veela's have pale skin and hair, long limbs, and pale coloured eyes. Each Veela Clan has a different way of recognizing their mate. Their language flows like music and has no harsh sounding tones. One word could mean many different things depending on the context in which it was spoken. Veela's have three words for mate alone: _alona_ or mate, _bedine_ meaning chosen (before mating), and _hayana_ meaning lover.

None of the Clans can do wandless magic. Veela's need, at the center of their wand core, a total of three things; a hair from a living ancestor not directly related, bark from a natural tree or bush from their birthplace, and an element which the wand maker will choose and the wand bearer will control after puberty. Though the Air and Water Clan are able to change shapes when angered, none of the Clan can become Animagi. (1)

The three words that Veela's have for their mate are: _alona_ or mate, _bedine_ meaning chosen (before mating), and _hayana_ meaning lover. _Alona_, or mate, is the endearment used when the one that the Veela chooses has accepted the claim and the two are bonded. _Bedine_, or chosen, is the endearment used when the mate has been chosen and the claim accepted but they have yet to bond. _Hayana_ is the endearment used after bonding.

Puberty, for all Veela's, are the night of their eighteenth birthday. At that time they are able to finally sense out their mate. If they are unable to find their mate or their mate denies them, then the Madness will take over and they will try to take their own life or will waste away until dead. No Veela has ever survived a denial. (2)

The Air Clan have pale blue eyes and they can turn into a bird like creature, with a hawk like nose, sharp teeth, wings, and talons, when they are angered or their mate is threatened. They like to wear clothes that are adorned with feathers and that are flowing and airy. They find their mate through the mate's smell. Their affiliation is normally neutral.

The Water Clan have pale green eyes and they can turn into an amphibious creature, with webbed feet and hands and gills, when they are angered or their mate is threatened. They like to wear clothes that are adorned with shells and are tight and formfitting. They find their mate through their mate's blood. Their affiliation is normally dark.

The Earth Clan have pale gray or brown eyes and they do not turn into any creature when they are angered or their mate is threatened, instead they have immense strength and can turn invisible if the situation calls for it. They wear whatever is the fashion of the time as they are also the most visible of the Veela Clans. They find their mate through spikes of need. Their affiliation is normally light.

Once a mate is recognized, by either smell, blood, or spike, these are moments of intense sexual or emotional feelings that strike at random, or when the Veela's side is searching for his mate. The mate is then given the chance to deny or accept the bond. Each Clan has a different form of acceptance; the Air Clan accepts by the sexual act, the Water Clan by an exchange of blood during the sexual act, and the Earth Clan accepts verbally and a with kiss. In only the Earth Clan is no sexual act required to bond. No Veela has ever survived a refusal. (3)

Bibliography

(1) Excerpt from : A Concise History of Veelas and Other Magical Beings

By: Pinco Pallino 

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1919.

(2) Excerpt from : Magical Beings and Their 'Awakening'.

By: Della Constantine

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1947.

(3) Excerpt from: The Veela- Beauty or Beast.

By: Keneth lazaru'ian Kian

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

**__**

Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.

MY STORY IS AU.

ENJOY!

****

CHAPTER FOUR

HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.

Each Clan has two Lords and two Ladies. Each Clan has a century to rule and then must give up the claim to the throne to the next Clan. Since Earth Clan is the strongest, it rules in between the other two Clans. The ruling Clan now is the Air Clan. In two years the rule changes to the Earth Clan.

The King and Queen for this century are from the Air Clan, King Rion Relin and Queen Alza Relin. The Lords and Ladies of Air are: King and Queen Relin of Asia and China and Lord and Lady Qizan of South America. The Lords and Ladies of Water are: Lord and Lady Cunningham of Canada and North America and Lord and Lady Stewert of Australia. The Lords and Ladies of Earth are: Lord and Lady Lamar of Africa and Lord and Lady Malvolio of Britain and Wales.

The Veela culture is based on hierarchy but the King and Queen can be outvoted by a majority of the Lords and Ladies. This has only happened once, in 1370, when the then King and Queen wanted to move the Palace from the Moors of Scotland to Atlantis. They were outvoted by an 8-4 vote. Lordships are hereditary but a lady can marry into the royalty. If the couple is male/male the Veela is the Lord and the mate is called Lona.

Excerpt from : The Veela Hierarchy.

By: Lord Toshiri Relin

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Harry made it to breakfast too late to talk to either of his best friends. But with a whispered word he arranged a meeting with them both for after lunch. He had to meet with Twink for an after coffee session. He hated the 'talks' that they were supposed to have. They consisted of Harry sitting in a chair with his arms crossed defensively and a scowl on his face and Dumbledore sitting there, drinking his damn tea and _twinkling._ Not much talking was done. Thankfully, he had not had a spike in any of these sessions.

If he didn't go he would just have to hear Hermione bitch at him for hours so, with a heavy sigh, he walked down the corridor to the Headmaster's office.

"Potter, a word." Came Snape's hated voice from behind him.

Harry didn't turn around to look as he kept walking, "no."

"How dare you ignore me!" Harry could just feel the anger radiating from the greasy git but he really didn't care. He had had Snape's number for a while now and Snape knew it too.

Harry kept walking, his voice was the same polite tone as always but you could literally hear the derision in it , "I could not care less about you Snape. And since the feeling is completely mutual, don't you think you would better serve your time wiping Voldemort's arse or something?"

He heard the indrawn breath and he could tell that the other man had stopped following him. He really disliked Professor Snape. Oh, he respected him for his talent and his knowledge, but he hated him with a passion only rivaled by the distaste he had for the gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Snape was nothing to him and Harry made sure to let him know it at every opportunity.

He knew that he was being overly harsh to the Potion's Master, after all, he was on their side. But Snape was deserving of Harry's treatment of him and they both knew it. Harry knew that Snape would never tell the Headmaster about their interactions as he would have to explain the reasoning behind them. That was something the Potion's Master would never do. And as long as he stayed quiet, so would Harry.

He snapped the password and stomped up the stairs, his happy mood from earlier now completely gone. He slumped in the first chair he came too and waited in silence for the stupid display to start. God! How he hated this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Slytherins had finished their breakfast late and then converged in Draco's room so that the Veela could rest. He had eaten nothing at breakfast and Pansy had ordered the house elves to furnish them with sweets and strong coffee, Draco's favorites.

"So," Vince said hesitantly, "that spike was different, wasn't it?"

Draco nodded from his spot on the bed and spoke slowly as he was so very tired. "It was wrong at first. I couldn't breathe. I could hear you all talking but I couldn't respond."

Vince flushed and grinned but managed to say without laughing out loud, "I was talking about the second part."

Draco's huffed 'wankers' was heard as he pulled a pillow over his now red face. His friends laughed at him and he vowed to hex them all right good when he had his mate and was in a better frame of mind. Right now, he couldn't cast a simple _accio_ if he needed to.

"I'll say it for you, 'Ko, it's a good thing you're handy with silencing charms cause you two will need them." Pansy teased as they all laughed again.

With a low growl and a sharp look at all of his friends, Draco headed for his bathroom. At least there, he could be alone with the thoughts of his mate that were crowding his tired mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry had been sitting there, staring off into space, for ten minutes before the Headmaster cleared his throat. Harry looked at him blankly for a few seconds before shaking off his suddenly melancholy mood. He couldn't take the chance for the Headmaster to see him in a vulnerable mood-not right now.

"Is everything okay, Harry?" The Headmaster's voice showed his concern but Harry also detected the faint trace of annoyance as well. He hated that about him, he knew that Dumbledore cared but he cared more as a General for a soldier than an Uncle for a nephew. It had been pressed home to him enough times that it really didn't hurt Harry anymore.

"It is fine, Headmaster." Harry replied in his polite tone. He struggled to keep the disgust from leaking into his voice and he was glad he succeeded. All he needed right now was Dumbledore breathing down his back too. Sin, Ron, and Hermione were all he could handle right now. And out of those three, Sin would be the one he would go to anyway.

"The Aurors will be here starting next week. Is there anything you want to work on?"

"Yes." Harry replied.

"Such as?" Dumbledore pressed.

"Did you get the information I sent to you over the week?" Harry avoided the question.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at his clear avoidance at answering and nodded. "It was passed along and you were right. Might I ask were you got your information?"

"You may but I will not tell you." Harry's voice was now cold. His normally hooded eyes flashed with anger and the only other show of his true feelings was the grip he had on the arm of his chair. This part of the conversation was always the same, Dumbledore pressuring Harry to reveal his source of information on the attacks, that he gave to the Headmaster and the Order. Harry always answered the same and the Headmaster always asked.

And then Dumbledore changed tactics on him and it very nearly threw him off. With a soft sigh the Headmaster put his cup of tea down. "We lost Brown."

Harry watched him with a blank face and nodded, "I know. He was careless."

"He was highly trained and -"

"He was careless." Harry's voice was now hard and he leveled a glare at the Headmaster. "He was warned; they all were. He ran in without backup. Careless."

"How do you know that?" Dumbledore snapped, furious that Harry still withheld vital information from him. He used to be like a son and now, he was cold and sometimes hateful to him.

Harry refused to answer as he sat there and watched the old man sitting across from him. He could almost tell what he was thinking. _What had happened to the nice, malleable, Harry?_ Harry didn't care. That person was buried far below the surface and Harry was not letting him out. Nice, malleable Harry died the night the only man he had left he had as a link to his parents, died.Sirius had been killed on an Order's mission and the night he found out was the night that he had forced himself to change into the person he was now. Of course, having the Headmaster and others from the Order continually taking him for granted helped the change along. _The only one I will miss here will be Sin. But she will let me visit her during the summer, I hope._ Harry thought to himself as he stood to leave.

"I have practice." He explained as he walked from the room ignoring the Headmasters call to come back. It wasn't that he hated Dumbledore now; it was just that he couldn't trust him and being in his presence when he tried to be all fatherly like, well it pissed Harry off. It had been Dumbledore who had sent Sirius on that mission and Harry would never, ever forgive him for that. He knew that come training on Monday morning, the Headmaster would make him pay for walking out like that but as stressed as Harry was, he was lucky he hadn't tried to curse him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco spent a good thirty minutes in the bathroom calming down. His friends were right, damn them all, that had been a very strong spike and he was still feeling the after effects of it. And damn him if he didn't want another one. That spike had been the most sensual, exotic thing he had ever experienced in his life and he had liked it; a lot, if the state of his wrist was anything to go by. Three times and he could go for a fourth but he needed to get back out there and curtail his friends and their nasty, albeit correct, thoughts. He waited until his face had lost the flushed look before opening the door. He was grateful to his friends as none of them commented on how long he had been in the bathroom and the obvious reasons as to why he would have been in there.

Draco actually felt better than he had in the last few days. He could still feel the Madness clawing at the back of his mind, but after that spike of wrongness, it was easier to bear. He didn't want to think about what that meant to hard. There were two outcomes to that, he was close to finding his mate and his Veela side knew it, or his Veela side knew its time was almost up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Practice was rough and the talk with Ron and Hermione was even harder. Neither of them understood why Harry wanted to go to a muggle university. They had not been as happy for him as he thought they would be.

As he lay soaking in as hot water as he could stand after practice he thought back to their conversation.

**Flashback**

Harry watched as confusion crossed Ron's sweaty face. He had met them both right after practice and neither of them had had a chance to clean up. "But Harry, where is Oxford?"

"It's a muggle university, Ron." Hermione said quietly as she studied Harry's blank expression. She had been worried about him for a while and this just confirmed her fears that they, the Wizards, were losing him.

"Muggle? Come on mate," Ron tried joking with Harry, "you don't want to go to a muggle school do you?"

Immediately Hermione knew that Ron had said the wrong thing as Harry stiffened and his eyes narrowed in anger. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"But why?" Ron asked belligerently as he hadn't seen the warning signs the way Hermione had. Ron was usually clueless about things like that.

Hermione laid a hand on her boyfriends arm as she watched Harry closely. "You want to go, Harry?"

Harry nodded, "very much. It is a great opportunity and one I don't want to turn down."

Hermione, as a muggle born, understood this. Ron, as wizard born, never would. To him, and to all Wizards, Harry belonged in the Wizard World.

"But, you can't leave!"

"Can't I?"

Hermione flinched at Harry's tone. It was still polite but there was a hardness to it that she didn't remember hearing before. He had grown up…without them it would seem. Pushing Ron back with a warning look she turned and pulled her best friend into a tight hug and whispered into his ear, "I'll talk to him. Make him understand."

Harry smiled gratefully and turned to leave. As he walked away he could hear Hermione try to explain to a Wizard how The Boy Who Lived, wasn't to be owned by Wizard kind and had a right to his own life.

**End Flashback**

Harry doubted Ron would understand. He had grown up with the whole Boy Who Lived legend and he would never understand. All Harry wanted was his own life on his own terms. And right now, those terms didn't include neither a wizard nor a witch in them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the day Harry spent in his rooms, studying and listening to music. He didn't feel like having Ron looking at him with that bewildered look on his face, he always got when Harry did something he couldn't understand.

It was lonely but he was used to it. He got out his book and with a few notations entered the information from the week before. It was a shame that they lost Brown because he really had been a good Auror. Just careless, and not only with his life, but with that of the other's on his team as well. He made a mental note to let Kingsely know to replace him with Thomkins. Although he was young, he had a good clear head on his shoulders.

Tossing his book aside he noticed it was after dinner and he was a bit hungry. He decided to go to the kitchen for a sandwich, as he was still upset with Ron and had no desire to see him right then, and then out to fly. He was still sore from practice but flying was better than sitting in his room alone. He made his way down to the kitchens, barely missing running into the Slytherin Prince's Gang. The house elves fell over themselves getting him something to eat and when he had finally gotten away it was well after 9 o'clock. With a sigh he made his way back to his room, no sense in going flying now, he had a meeting to attend.

Casting the strongest privacy charm he knew on his room he walked to the fireplace and lit it. Throwing in the powder he called out, 'The Grove' in the hopes that his informant was there early. He was glad to see the face that appeared and he settled into a comfortable position for a nice long chat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of Saturday and Sunday morning were hard for Draco. His friends had all made plans to go out to Hogsmead and Draco didn't have the strength to go. He looked worse after a night spent tossing and turning…and screaming. Even behind the stronger ward it was getting harder and harder to maintain any semblance of control. He was losing it and everyone knew it.

His hair lay lank and dull. His normally bright looking skin was yellow and sallow. The only color left in his pale face was where he was continually biting his lip. He had only enough energy left to walk to and from his bathroom. It looked like his time was up and he had finally resigned himself to that fact. He had two maybe three days left.

He had to force is friends to go out and promised them he would be all right. Once they were gone he frantically firecalled his father. He had lied to everyone and soon it would all be over. It was like a weight had been lifted from his chest. His time was almost up and he wanted to talk with his parents before he succumbed to the effects of the Madness.

Unfortunately, they were not in. He left a message with a house elf and went to bed where he spent the better part of the night shivering and crying in a corner of his room as a spike hit him with such strength that he cried out for the blackness and succumbed with barely a whimper.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Early Sunday afternoon Harry experienced a spike unlike any he had ever had before. It was laced with a need and wrongness so strong that the normally cool and calm Gryffindor was forced to curl up on his bed, shaking and crying out for what he didn't know. Right then he decided to go to the Headmaster to see if he knew what was happening. He would put aside his anger at the old man long enough to figure out what the bloody hell was going on with him.

It wasn't until dinner that Harry felt strong enough to get up and take a shower before going to see the Headmaster.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sunday night dinner was pure hell for Draco. Only by the firm hands of Vince and Greg was he able to stay seated. The spike of need and wrongness that afternoon had left him barely able to function. Which made him embarrassed but thankfully none of them said a word, other than Blaises' initial comment of 'you okay?'

It was only as they were helping him stand did he realize that dinner was over. With unspoken commands he told them it would be best if they waited for most of the Hall to leave before they tried to make their way to the Dorms. With a hard shudder another spike hit Draco and he could not contain his whimper. Instinctually both Vince and Greg stepped in front of him to shelter him from prying eyes. Draco may be out of it now, but once he was back to his old self he would make them pay dearly if he were to be embarrassed.

Draco turned his back to everyone and pressed his face into the cold stone wall behind him. This spike was another one of strong physical need with just a touch of love added in for good measure. His father had warned him that this would happen. His Veela side knew his mate was near and it was forcing his Human side to find him. But things had went to far and he no longer had the strength. He didn't know how much more he could handle by himself before the Madness gained an upper hand on him. Right now he could feel it waiting at the back of his mind and only the spikes of need were keeping it at bay.

Once the Hall was empty Draco was able to pull in a deep breath and regain a semblance of control. He drew in a few calming breaths as he let the coolness of the stone wall cool down his heated face. Gritting is teeth he pulled strength from his upbringing and turned to face his friends, mask firmly in place.

"Let's get to the Dorms. Go and wait for me." Draco said in his normal tone of voice. His father would be proud of his control. Where the strength came from he didn't know. He was so worn out that he wasn't sure he could even walk to the dungeons. Draco and Greg made their way slowly towards their destination, only stopping once for a spike. This one was more emotional than physical and Draco found himself, for the first time that he could remember, near tears from sadness and longing.

"Greg," he said as he turned his face so that his friend couldn't see the tears shining in his eyes, "I-"

"It's okay, Draco. I'm here to help." Greg said understandingly.

"I can't take much more of this. I need to find him before I go crazy." Draco's voice was shaky and the need was sharp, hitting him like a dull knife right between his shoulder blades. He was leaning against the wall since he had no strength left in his legs to walk the rest of the way to the Dorms.

"Please, don't kill me." Greg pleaded as he drew his wand. Draco spared him a questioning look but didn't have time to say anything before Greg cast a concealment charm, then a lightening charm, on him. Picking him up he said softly, "I'll never tell anyone."

"You do, and I will kill you." Draco said tiredly. He appreciated what Greg was doing for him though it did sting his pride. Deep down he knew it was his own fault for waiting so long to find out who his mate was. Once again he cursed his Veela genes.

Greg set him down gently in front of the Slytherin portrait before removing the charms and saying the password. Draco drew a sharp breath and stepped into the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the way to the Headmasters Office, Harry was hit with a spike of need, though not as strong as normal, it was enough that he had to stop walking and lean against the wall. He was starting to get concerned about this. He could tell that what was happening to him was not bad, well it wasn't evil anyway. He felt like he was needed, that he needed. And to him, that was something wonderful. What was needed or who needed him was something he knew he had to find out. The feeling started out as a slight tingle over every inch of his skin and then turned into a need so strong that he couldn't breathe.

For the few seconds that feeling took over, his thoughts seemed frozen, locked into the need flowing through him. It wasn't a bad feeling. In fact, he thought, if he knew what it was he would welcome it. It was nice. Too nice.

The fact that he wasn't necessarily concerned about what was happening to him ought to actually worry him. But he just didn't think that this was a bad thing. 'Hey, maybe for once in his life something was going to go _his_ way'. Each time it happened he felt just a little bit better about himself. So really, it couldn't be bad, could it?

Knowing he needed an answer, preferably before another spike hit him, he quickened his steps towards his destination. The Gargoyle automatically moved aside for him and he ran up the stairs. He knocked on the door and waited for the call to enter.

"Ah, Harry," The Headmaster said not able to cover his surprise. 'So', Harry thought, 'he didn't know what was going on either. "What can I do for you, son?"

Now that he was here, Harry didn't know what to say. Did he just blurt everything out? And where was his resolve not to tell him anything? But he couldn't do that with this. It was just too much for him to handle. Drawing his mask back into place he ignored the residuals of the spike that had sent a physical reaction straight to his groin. He wanted desperately to give in to the need and that is what made up his mind to speak.

"Since stepping onto the train," He wasn't about to tell him it had been happening for the last few months, "I have been…experiencing something." Harry said in the polite tone he had mastered.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow as he looked at Harry. He took in his posture, sitting upright instead of slouching as he normally would, face void of anything at all, and his tone of voice was polite but noticeably strained. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it appeared that Harry had grown up over the summer. This afternoon had only hammered that fact in. He just hoped that it wasn't a step back for the young man. Harry didn't need to throw away his emotions, he needed to embrace them. "And that is?"

"A need…" Harry faltered to explain.

"A need?" Dumbledore pressed when that was all Harry said.

"Yes."

"A need to what?" He pressed the question. It was as if he didn't know the answer.

"I don't…I don't know!" Harry sighed in frustration. "It is physical, mental, emotional, _soulful_. It hurts, it's pleasurable, _it's needed_, and each time it is stronger. Each time I want the next spike to come sooner. I want this need, Albus. I need it!"

"Harry, there are no spells on you. I would have been informed the minute you crossed my doorstep." Dumbledore studied the boy before him. While he had been talking the mask had fallen and he could clearly see the confusion all over him. The fact that he had called him by his first name was worry enough; Harry only did that when it came to Order business.

"Then what is it?" He couldn't keep the desperation from his voice.

"I don't know." Dumbledore said simply.

"I don't think it is bad." As he talked he tried to keep his voice level and free of its earlier emotion. "I seem to need the need. As if that made sense," he sighed as he ran a tired hand through his hair, "I'm tired and it is draining but each time it is like…I…" he shrugged his shoulders at his inability to describe what was going on.

"You say it is not bad?" Dumbledore questioned thoughtfully.

"No, the exact opposite, if I really think about it." He was trying to be as honest as possible. He had once considered Albus his mentor and friend, but still, that didn't mean he wanted to talk to him about this. He felt his face flush as he couldn't meet the other man's stare.

"I see."

"You do?" Harry asked relieved that he didn't have to explain anymore.

"Oh, not about what is happening to you, dear boy, but about the fact that it is happening to you."

"Oh." Harry was about to say something else when he was hit with a spike of such intense longing need that the tears that came to his eyes and flowed down his cheeks were not felt by him. If it was possible for a heart to ache this much, then Harry vowed to find out what was wrong with him so that he never had to experience this feeling again.

Dumbledore watched as the boy in front of him went through one of the 'experiences' he had been trying to explain. He was shocked to see the tears and the look of longing on his face was heartbreaking. It was that look right there that brought up a memory of another individual sitting in that same chair twenty years ago. With a sigh, he knew he had Harry's answer. He just didn't know how to tell him.

He waited until Harry drew a sharp breath and fastened his now alert gaze on him before he began to speak, "Harry, let me tell you, you shouldn't be afraid of what is happening to you."

"You know what it is?"

"Yes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked her worry for him apparent in her tone. Draco looked at them all, he could tell they were worried, hell so was he. He had walked into the room and Blaise had cast the stronger ward and then did something that he hadn't thought to do…she also cast the weaker ward. Now, he was behind two wards and though his Veela side was protesting, his Human side was beating it down with a well aimed stick. He needed this….even if it would be hell to pay in the morning.

"No. I don't know what to do." Draco admitted as he flopped down onto his couch. He was getting worse and each of them had vowed to keep their eyes peeled to help find his _bedine_. Vince started the fire and Blaise conjured up tea and scones. They all settled down to talk. "The wards help but what do I do Monday? It's a weak ward day! I am not sure I can handle much more!"

Pansy grinned and Draco knew she was about to say something completely outrageous. "I say we gather all the boys and bring them down here. We can always _obliviate_ them afterwards."

Draco stared at her in horror. "What!"

"You know," Vince said slowly, "that might work."

"Oh, yes," Draco said with dry humor, "Pardon me but could you please come down to my house, which everyone else in this school is terrified of, to stand there and see if you are the mate of a soon to be mad Veela?"

They all chuckled but Blaise still had a thoughtful look on her face. "Draco, it really is a good idea. We won't get much sleep tonight but at least by morning time you will have your mate and the Madness won't be a problem."

"You're kidding, right?" Draco gave a short laugh, "of course you are. That idea is preposterous!"

They all stared quietly at him. They knew how to get him to come around to their way of thinking, they had been doing it to him for years.

"No," he stated firmly.

Still quietly staring.

"Absolutely not."

Staring.

"Guys?"

Silence.

"Do you think that would work?" He asked hesitantly. It was a measure of how much the need was affecting him that he even considered this crazy idea so quickly.

"It might." Greg said simply.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we snuck him into each of the common rooms? That way we would at least know which house we are working with." Pansy asked a thoughtful look on her face.

"No!" Draco exclaimed quickly. He felt his face flush, "it would not be a good thing if I left my room. The spikes are getting worse." He was so embarrassed. He knew that his inexperience had to do with being a Veela but he still didn't like the fact that his friends were more worldly about sex than he was. He refused to look at any of them and only looked up from his clasped hands when the first chuckle was heard. He snorted and then blushed furiously which only made his friends laugh louder.

"Wankers," he mumbled.

Greg patted him on the shoulder and said affectionately, "ponce."

Draco was highly affronted and glared at him. Just because his mate was a male did not make him a ponce. It was a good thing they were his friends, anyone else he would have hexed.

"Well," Pansy said decisively as she stood, "let's get this show on the road. Greg take Ravenclaw password is _Omni Victorius_, Vince take Hufflepuff password is _Carpe Nictum_, and Blaise and I will take Gryffindor. We will steal the little buggers right out of their beds." Pansy was Head Girl so she knew the passwords to each of the common rooms.

"Guys?" Draco said quietly before they could leave, "thanks."

They knew that if it had been any other situation he would never have said it out loud, that just wasn't the Malfoy way. They each nodded before they left him to compose himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry walked, stunned, down the hall towards his room. He had been given a room to himself last year when his screams had kept his dorm mates up at night. He gave his password, _Canis Major_, and stepped in. He slowly made his way towards his bed and flopped down on it without bothering to remove his robes. A flick of his wrist and music filled the room, he snapped his fingers and the CD changed to his favorite concerto, Vivaldi's _Spring from- The Four Seasons: Allegro_, that always managed to lull him to sleep, something his tired mind needed in order to think about the news he had just heard. He wasn't sure if he believed what he had been told, it all sounded so out there that he just…couldn't believe it.

And if it was true? What would he do then? He groaned and flopped his head roughly on the pillow a couple of times before sighing loudly. He was dead. They were going to save Voldemort from getting his stinky, scaly, hands on him this year and kill him themselves. Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe Dumbledore was wrong. And maybe that ice ball he wished in hell would actually _not_ melt.

Damn, he was dead. Maybe he needed to update his will. He gave a short, terse, laugh and rolled over onto his stomach. There went all that work he had done over the summer. He just didn't see how he could be indifferent with everyone if he was going to have a Veela hanging around him every second. All that saving the world crap that he had to do was more important than being a Veela's mate.

Not in the mood to think about it anymore, the flopping around had made his head start to pound and his neck hurt, Harry doubled his Occulmency and stared at the ceiling. He could feel his face draw up in a scowl. Damnit! He was not going to be forced into anything with anyone. That had already been tried and he had nipped that real quick. Harry Potter belonged to Harry Potter. He had plans and dreams of his own and no Veela was going to take that away from him.

He brushed aside the tears of frustration that he hadn't known were there and rolled over onto his side, his preferred method of sleeping, and curled around his large pillow. Harry fell asleep with his mind filled with what he had just been told.

'And he had thought this couldn't be bad', was his last conscious thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**I KNOW BLAISE IS A GUY IN CANON. BUT THIS IS AU. AND IN MY AU, BLAISE IS A GIRL.**

I am sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It was very rough for me to actually sit before the computer and write. I gave it the time I needed.

I do hope that you all like it. And check out the new chapter four. It has all of the little histories on it. Reading it all like that some of you may actually get where this is going.Please, check out my new story entitled 'Fool' and my new one shot 'The Place'. I hope that you like it.

Thank you to all that read and review.

ENJOY!

LMG


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

**_Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU._**

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

The Veela Language is very lyrical in its beginnings. There seem to be no delineating mark between consonants and vowels. A single quote mark can change a word from one meaning to another but it is curious that there is a singular effect to that usage, for example: I is A but my is a'a, same letters to show person but separated by that mark. Veelas know their language instinctively. Their mates, upon claiming, are able to learn the language more quickly than a non claimed human. Mates, before the bonding, are frequently already multi-lingual.

Some examples are:

Mate: alona, bedine, and hayana

I love you: A nian asa.

You're my chosen: Asa'r a'a bedine.

I love you, mate: A nian asa, alona.

You're mine: Asa'r oin.

May the Goddess shine on you: Ain e Shialla sini'n asa

Shine on you- sini'n asa

On-n

May-ain

The-e

Goddess-shialla

Shine on-sini'n

You-asa

Mine-oin

My-a'a

I-a

You're-asa'r

Love-nian

Excerpt from : The Veela Language

By: Della Constatine

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

None.

_None._

_NONE!_

That was the only word that Draco could get past his head. Not one of the nineteen boys paraded in front of him, of his year, were his mate. There were actually twenty-nine boys in their year and in sixth year combined but three of them were in the infirmary that night and five of them couldn't be found. Harry Potter, whom Draco hadn't even NOTICED this year, a sixth and a seventh year Ravenclaw, whom it was suspected, had been in their girlfriend's room. Ron Weasley was missing and everyone knew he was in Granger's room. Theodore Nott was probably in his room, drugged up on Muggle drugs, but they already knew he wasn't Draco's mate so they didn't worry about him. It had actually been funny when they had started to parade each sleepy boy into his room not caring if they just happen to hit heads or limbs on his doorjamb. As funny as all that was, it didn't produce his mate.

Draco went to bed behind a ward that just barely kept the Veela contained. Without its ability to search for its mate, his dreams were dark and full of the Madness. He resorted to a dreamless sleep spell after the third time waking up in a cold sweat, a scream just barely contained.

He woke sweaty, with tears on his cheek and pillow, and the darkness waiting at the back of his mind for the ward to drop. He knew the second it was down he would be hit with a spike of need that may well undo him. His friends had spent the night in his room not wanting to leave him alone.

He got up and showered, not caring at all about fixing his appearance to its usual immaculate condition. He wanted his mate. He needed his mate and by all that was holy he would have him today. He had not wanted this until now. He remembered his resistance that night he had told his parents that his mate was a male and he wondered at how stupid he could have been.

Veela had to have their mates. It was an essential part of their makeup and here he had been foolishly thinking he could live without his. 'Stupid Veela', he thought to himself. Right now, all his rebelliousness seemed…childish. He wanted his mate. He feared what would happen to him if he didn't find him soon.

"Are you okay?" Vince's voice was sleepy and laced with concern.

Draco turned to face his friends. Though he had just gotten out of the shower there was a fine sheen of sweat on his body and his straight hair laid around his head in a matted mess. He was normally pale but now he looked dead white with a tint of green around his mouth. His bright grey eyes were now dull and lifeless.

"No." Draco said hoarsely.

"'Ko?" Pansy asked as she walked to him and took him in her arms.

"I can't do this, Pans." He whispered, his voice shaking, "the moment those wards are down, I will be in big trouble."

"Draco," Greg started hesitantly, "if this is how you are acting, what is your mate going through?"

Draco sighed as he made his way over to the couch to sit down, "about the same but it would be nothing like what I am feeling but because I am behind these wards, he probably is not feeling them at all. I know he is very powerful and he may be able to ignore the small spikes. I am behind these wards and right now, they feel nothing. The spikes, for my mate, would be intense but they would be able to live with them. I-…"

"But you can't?" Blaise asked.

"No," Draco's voice was low and toneless. "Soon, the Madness will be too strong for me to ignore and I will succumb. It already eats away at me, calling for me to succumb."

"What happens then?" Greg asked quietly.

Draco didn't answer for a few minutes, he wiped the sweat from his brow along with wiping away a stray tear and sighed, "I either kill myself or let myself waste away. I don't think I can kill myself though but a Veela who is letting itself waste away is not a pretty sight."

No one spoke for a while, each one of them thinking about what he had just revealed, for a Veela to admit that he would waste away from being denied his mate was a big thing. Most Veela never spoke about what could happen to them to outsiders.

"What happens when you find him?" Pansy asked curiously.

"It is different with each couple. My mother was walking down the hallway here at Hogwarts, when my father claimed her. It was very sudden, he had been going through the spikes for only a few hours, and when he walked past her he couldn't help himself and he tackled her to the ground. She hexed him before he could kiss her." Draco smiled for the first time since they had gotten to Hogwarts.

Pansy giggled loudly, "oh Merlin!"

"Once they kissed, she accepted the claim."

"So, a kiss seals the claim?" Greg said.

"No, she just had to accept it. It takes the mate accepting the claim for it to seal, it doesn't matter the 'experience'," Draco could not stop the blush from blooming on his cheeks, "of the couple before that moment. It just takes an acceptance of the claim."

"So, he could kiss you, but still not accept the claim or he could do nothing but accept the claim?" Vince was confused.

"Exactly, a Veela will not go with anyone until he claims his mate, He is restricted, but his mate is not subject to that restriction. Well, not restriction, that's not a good word for it. Before they claim their mate, Veela have no desire for anyone. But that does not apply to their mate. Once Veelas claim their chosen, their powers affect them and they will try to bond. The mate can decline but that will also result in the Veela going mad. The Veela will do everything in their power to bond with the one that they have chosen. But the one claimed is not forced to respond, if he does not want to. Most of those who take the claim will finish the bonding, the ones who do not, condemn their Veela to slowly die."

"So you _are_ a virgin!" Blaise crowed. Draco growled at her.

"Your mate could be the biggest slut that Hogwarts had ever seen and you would **still** want them?" Pansy shrieked.

"Yeah." Draco sighed dejectedly though his face flared red. "I-ummm, don't know a whole lot."

"Wow, that sucks." Greg said sympathetically.

"Apparently not." Draco said dryly and all was silent for a few shocked seconds before laughter filled the room.

"Oh, God." Vince gasped between bouts of laughter, "man…I mean…come on Draco, you know nothing?"

Draco's face flared red again before he stammered, "I-I didn't _say_ that."

"What?" Greg asked with a confused look, all laughter gone from him.

Draco crossed his arms over his chest and stared haughtily at them. His face was still red but he once again looked like the Draco they knew and loved.

"'Ko?" Pansy asked as she caught on to the seriousness of the conversation.

"He said he knew something. How can he know something if he has never done anything?" Greg demanded with a sharp look at the Slytherin Prince.

"Veela know." Draco's voice was deep and slow but with an underlying sensuality in it.

His friends stared at him in shock. He had NEVER talked like that in all the years that they had known him. He would normally blush and stammer and try to change the conversation whenever talk of sex came up. He would never get this silky, heated, quality to his voice that he had now. And his face was still flushed from his blush, giving him that little bit of color that took away the dead pallor to his skin. His eyes were a deep grey now, clearly indicating desire. There seem to be an aura about him now and each of them felt the pull of a 'Draco looking for his mate'. They were ashamed that they felt desire for their friend and each drew a big sigh of relief when it abruptly stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Blaise demanded as she stared, open-mouthed, at her room-mate.

Draco's face blanched back to white and then quickly flushed again, "sorry," he mumbled as he lowered his head.

"Draco, what did you just do?" Pansy asked quietly.

Draco sighed and raised his eyes to look at his friends. He moved his gaze to the fire and sat, silently, for a few moments. "I need my mate. My senses are calling out for him and right now, because I am behind this ward, they can't do what they need to do to find him. I have control, but-" and here his face flared as red as it had even been, "we are talking about him…and…I…"

Pansy and Blaise 'awwwed' while Greg and Vince rolled their eyes at the girls. "Shut up," Draco murmured.

They giggled before hard laughter filled the room and all Draco could do was glare at his so called friends as they laughed at him. Any other time he would have hexed them and sorted it out later but, right now all he could concentrate on was not having the effect on his body that talking about his mate had allowed his friends to see.

"What about all that jealous stuff you hear about?" Pansy asked with a smirk around her quiet giggles.

Draco grinned evilly at his friends, "oh I got that-in spades."

They all laughed louder. "Well, I guess we need to make it to breakfast. Snape will only let you go so much, favorite or not." Vince said as he helped the girls to stand.

"Once the ward is down, I-I am not sure what will happen." Being behind the ward had been difficult, Draco knew, but once the ward was down each and every spike that had been kept at bay would come crashing down on him. They were not meant to be ignored and frankly it seemed to piss them off, as if the spikes had a mind of their own. Draco guessed that they did, as it was the spikes that helped a Veela recognize their mate. He never should have stayed for so long behind a ward.

"We know, 'Ko." Blaise said as she drew her wand in preparation of releasing her ward.

"Here goes nothing." Draco said flippantly as he nodded to her.

She released the ward, for a few seconds nothing happened, and then Draco let out a blood curling scream and dropped to his knees. His hands curled in his hair and started to pull at it. His face drew up into a hideous mask, his lips pulled back in a snarl that showed off his brilliant straight white teeth; his neck muscles grew taunt from the strain, his now fully erect penis was clearly visible, tears flowed from his tightly closed eyes, and his back arched so that, though he was kneeling, the back of his head hit the floor behind him. Pain shot through his body searing each neuron with a need so powerful that he couldn't stand it any longer and blackness thankfully overcame him. With one more, loud, scream he fell to the floor unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry woke the next morning with the same thought running through his head as last night. 'He was dead, oh so dead!' He lay in his bed just thinking about the conversation he'd had with the Headmaster last night. He knew all about Veela, having written an extra seven inches for his report on them last year. He had been absolutely fascinated with them, especially the wizard Veela. Go figure. At least he knew what to expect for the next few days but he wasn't sure if he was going to do anything about it. He had his training to think of, not to mention the life that he wanted if he survived Voldemort.

He sighed and got out of bed to change into his running clothes. He quickly left his room and made his way to the Pitch were he ran his usual fifteen laps. Normally, the running would help clear his mind but today, it just made him madder and madder. 'How dare they try to control him?' Harry could feel the anger in him grow. He was seventeen years old for Merlin's Sake! and he didn't need some old fart telling him what to do. Hadn't he survived this long? Yes, it had been with help from others but when it came down to it, it was Old Scaly Arse himself and Harry that were the last two standing. Harry knew he should have just killed him the last encounter and been done with it all, so that he could go live his own life. But he hadn't because he had yet to find a way to release the ones helping him form the Dark Mark. Until that time, he would play Voldemort's game. He was close to finding out how to do that and when he did, blam, there would go the Already Dead Guy.

Why did they treat him as if he hadn't a brain cell to his name? Harry screamed at himself as he pounded down the hallway back to his room. His heart was beating fast and a red mist was gathering around him as a powerful rage began to build inside his battered mind. A mate? What mate? There was no way in hell he was going to lumber himself with a mate, of any kind, sort, or color. This was just another indication of a vicious and vindictive fate that was trying to ruin his life...again! And if they, here he didn't even know who _they_ were, thought that he was going to meekly accept said fate, they were in for a nasty surprise. He had better things to do with his life, after, and if, he defeated that git Voldemort. He had a life to live and would live it his own way, not encumbered by any Slytherin Bastard. After all the efforts Sin had gone through to get him a placement at Oxford, he was certainly not going to give all that up. No bloody way! He growled his password to the door of his room and smiled darkly at the loud crash that could be heard when it hit the wall as he slammed it open.

The second the door closed behind Harry he dropped to the floor and the anger leeched out of him. He had to get control of this or he was going to loose his mind. These bouts of anger scared him more than having a Dark Lord after him. He lay there on the floor as rational thought slowly came back to him. Harry knew that what he had just been thinking was due more to the fact that he was angry about others still trying to control his life than anger at the Veela who would only want to love him. And he knew that that was what would happen. The Veela in Draco would override any hateful feelings that the beautiful blonde had for Harry. And that was part of Harry's problem. He shrugged off his fluctuating moods, he didn't want to think about them but he knew that the bond was starting to effect him even though they weren't bonded yet.

Harry sighed as he thought back over the last few times he had seen the other boy. He had looked rough. Very rough. But Harry refused to think about what this Veela thing was doing to Draco. He had enough problems dealing with what it was doing to him. The fighting had stopped at the end of last year and he was actually on friendly terms with a few of them though his and Draco's group tended to avoid each other at all costs. But friendly terms and shagging their Prince…sorry but for him the math just wasn't adding up.

He didn't even want to think about what Malfoy thought of this. Or did he know?

He made up his mind to not do anything until he knew what Malfoy- he sighed, he might as well get used to calling him by his first name- Draco, was going to do. He was sure he would know first thing this morning. He didn't want to give up everything that he had worked for. In fact, he resolved, not to. **_IF _**he really was Draco's mate, then, they would just have to come up with some sort of compromise so that he could still do what he needed to do. Saving the world just had to come before this…didn't it?

He sighed as he got up to take a shower, Ron and Hermione would be there soon to walk with him to breakfast. He flicked his wrist towards his stereo and the pounding sounds of Beethoven's _Symphony No. 9 _filled the room though it didn't really match his mood as the music was playful and upbeat. His day hadn't even started yet and already it sucked and he didn't even want to get started on what this meant for rest of the school year.

He paused a soft knock came to his door. He frowned, Ron and Hermione never came this early. He walked to the door and with a wave of his hand a small spot opened up so that he could see who was out there.

"Maledizione!" He cursed under his breath. It was Ginny. She was starting to get annoying. She had accosted him last Monday and it had taken everything he had to not hex her to get her away from him. She just didn't understand that when he said no he really meant 'hell no!'.

It wasn't that she wasn't pretty or nice or anything a guy would want in a girlfriend. Harry just was not interested. Just like with….no better to not think about that. At least now he knew WHY he hadn't been interested. Draco bloody Malfoy was why.

Shaking his head he opened the door and blinked blearily at her. "Whuzup Gin?" He asked in the sleepiest voice he could manage. Maybe if she thought he was running late, she would leave more quickly.

Ginny smiled prettily at him but Harry could swear he could see the greedy look she tried to give his body. He moved the door to cover most everything and just looked at her.

"Hi, Harry. I came to see if I could walk you to breakfast." Ginny flashed him her most successful smile and was surprised when he ignored it. No one had ever ignored her innocent, sexy smile before! She had worked all summer on that and here he was just standing there shaking his head.

"Sorry, Ginny. No breakfast for me this morning. I am running late." Harry tried to sound sorry but he just couldn't.

"Oh, well, maybe tomorrow then?" She asked hopefully but Harry was already closing the door and didn't answer her. 'Damn him! Why did he treat her this way?'

Harry shut the door without answering. Sooner or later she would get the message without him saying anything to her. Draco would make sure of that. Harry grinned at that thought. He did love Ginny, but as a sister. Sometimes, when she was trying to get into his pants, he didn't like her that much. Like this morning, why would she come here this early? Guess she thought she could get in a quick grope before breakfast. Harry shuddered at the thought of her hands on his body. And then frowned that he had shuddered.

Was the bond already affecting him? Oh, Merlin! It was! Damn it! Pushing that frightening thought out of his head he made his way to his bathroom for the shower he needed.

A short stop in front of the mirror had Harry shaking his head, he certainly would not win any beauty contests. His longish black hair now hit his shoulders and was still unbelievably messy at all times. He had grown the bangs out last year so that they covered his forehead and just hit the top of his glasses. He had gotten the new glasses at the beginning of the summer when he had been hit in the face by a stray ball. His old glasses hadn't stood a chance, even with the unbreakable charm Hermione had put on them in second year, they had cracked like an old man's back doing yoga. The new frames had a level nine unbreakable combined with a charm he himself had made that made sure they didn't fall from his face, he had learned that lesson the last 'encounter' he'd had with Voldemort.

His eyes were the same bright green as before though even he could see the shadows in them. The silver rimless frames looked good with his tanned skin and dark hair. He leaned closer and snorted in disgust at the smattering of freckles across his nose, he looked like a kid in his opinion. He lifted an arm and stuck a pose that showed off his muscles. Baseball sure was good for him, well, that and Quidditch. He had been playing Baseball with Dudley for the last few years, and this year, they had gotten on the same team and they were unbeatable. Between Harry's quickness and Dude's power their team had gone all the way to the finals, which they had won, of course. Now he had to wait to see if Sin could get Twinks to let him go to the Nationals.

Dudley had changed after Vernon's death at the beginning of sixth year. By the time Harry had come back for summer vacation, Dudley was a changed man. Gone was the spiteful, overweight, youth and in its place stood a muscular, quiet, man and he was better off for it. It had taken weeks for their hatred of each other to lessen, and being on the same team this past summer had wiped the slate clean. They still had their spats, as a family was wont to do, but they worked it out between them. His Aunt Petunia had also changed since the death of her abusive husband; becoming the woman that Harry had known she could be.

Shaking his head at his foolishness, he got undressed and started the shower. He stood in the shower letting the hot water run over his body as he tried not to think about what was going to be happening to him in the next few days. He didn't want to be saddled with a Veela. He didn't want to be saddled with anyone actually. He had worked hard all summer to keep his emotions in check, to show nothing to anyone, and this Veela situation threatened to flush all his hard work straight down the proverbial toilet.

Except for Cho, in _fifth _year, he'd never had any interest in anyone. Shouldn't that be a requirement for a male Veela to want another male? He knew that a Veela didn't have desire for anyone but their mate. He had heard nothing about Draco even being with anyone, male or female, so was he even gay? Harry had a weird thought that maybe for a Veela, there wasn't any choice. The Veela wanted who the Veela wanted and the Human part of the equation just had to go along for the ride.

Harry snickered at that as he imagined Human Draco arguing with Veela Draco that 'no, Harry Potter couldn't be his mate because Harry Potter was a male and Malfoys aren't gay'. Though if he was being truthful, Malfoy wasn't hard on the eyes. He had that soft pale skin that reminded Harry of melted white chocolate just waiting to be licked. Bright grey eyes that when they flashed at him with any kind of emotion were like a lightening bolt in a storm filled sky, and the growth spurt he'd had last year ended with him at an impressive height that was at least two and a half inches above Harry's own 5 foot 9 inch stature. And he was sure that the blonde had to work out as there was no way mere Quidditch gave him those muscles with his body type. He ran or swam Harry was sure of it. Draco Malfoy was all sleek lines and pale skin and he guessed he was going to have to get used to that.

He had finished washing his hair and had stepped forward to rinse it when he was hit with the biggest spike ever. It was filled with lust, longing, hope, and love and was so powerful and painful that he couldn't contain a surprised scream. With an uncontrollable jerk he lost his footing and slipped in the shower. His head hit the faucet with a loud sickening crunch and the screaming abruptly stopped.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All the encouragement that you have all offered have made it possible to continue writing…even when I wanted to stop. For those of you that gave me tips and suggestions, thank you, that also made me want to continue. This may not go the way some of you have suggested but…well….you'll see why later. I can't express my gratitude more than this.

I want to thank each and every one of you readers that was patient with me. And those that were not too!

Please check out the co-authored story by me and Merlin. It's called 'Wishmasters' and it is now on my account. Also, the second part of 'The Place' is up and it is called 'The Room', let me know what you think about those two-will ya?

I want to thank each and every one of you readers that was patient with me. And those that were not too!

I hope that each of you that read my stories will be able to take something from it to help you. They say a great writer doesn't write for themselves but for those that read. I feel that I am one of those that do that.

Thank you again.

ENJOY!

LMG


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER SIX**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

Veela's are allowed certain rights in the physical defense of their mate but that does not give them free reign to accost anyone that offends their mate. Certain situations are automatically sanctioned in the Veela's defense, such as: defending their mate from physical attacks, defending their mates from mental attacks, and defending their mate and children if acts of harm are thought to be imminent.

This does not give the Veela unlimited right to harm another. But, in the defense of their mate, they are exempt from most charges.

**Ss. 14.10 Self-Defense of Mate and/or Children**

(1) Acts Excluding Convictions: Transfer to Veela Court

(a) at the time of the conduct charged to constitute the offense he/she (the non-Veela) was mated to the Veela in question; in which case the Veela Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction, or,

(b) at the time of the conduct charged to constitute the offense he/she (the Veela) was under the age of claim, or,

(c ) the offense charged is a crime of violence that is a felony or offence described in specific Sections of the Veela Law under Sub-section 23, and there is a substantial Veela Court interest in the case or the offense to warrant the exercise of Veela justice.

(2) Conduct Exclusions: Transfer to Veela Court

(a) conduct that the actor (the Veela) believes to be justified to avoid a harm or evil to himself, their mate, or their children is justified, provided that:

((1)) the harm or evil sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than that sought to be prevented by Veela Law defining the offense charged: and

((2)) neither the Codex nor other law defining the offense provides exceptions or defenses dealing with the specific situations involved; and

((3)) a legislative purpose to exclude the justification claim does not otherwise plainly appear; and

((4)) claim, or the start of a claim, must be accepted.

(b) availability of this privilege as a defense to a criminal charge depends, under prevailing Veela Law, upon showing that:

((1)) the defendant (the Veela) believed physical force to be necessary for self-protection, or protection of mate and their children;

((2)) his or her belief was based upon reasonable grounds;

((3)) the force used was believed to be necessary to avoid imminent danger; and

((4)) the force used was not in excess of that believed necessary to repel the unlawful act; and

((5)) if unnecessary forced was used, was imminent danger present.

Though most Wizards are aware from birth of the consequences of harming the mate of a Veela, recent influxes of Muggle-born Wizards and Witches have caused countless problems for Veela's everywhere. New legislation is being written to take care of this problem, as always, it will err on the side of the Veela and their mate.

Excerpt from : The Veela Law

By: Anton Malachias

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1971.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Power lanced through the room, green and white flashes as the boy in the shower fought to stay conscious. The magic faded and then pulsed brightly before stopping altogether. The shivering boy laying in the tub whimpered once and called out a name. He was hanging onto consciousness by sheer will alone. In his semi-conscious state he couldn't stop the nightmare he had been having for months now. He didn't want to experience it again. It left him feeling so empty and longing for something more. This was the first time he had ever experienced this nightmare while he wasn't actually asleep. The pain in his head flared and with another whimper he succumbed.

He couldn't stand the burning heat, the clawing, itchy feeling that made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He tried to reign in the feelings of despair that threatened him again but, as always, he was unsuccessful. Pain lanced through his head and for a second he regained consciousness. He struggled, fighting to stay awake, then the blackness claimed him again.

_But then the pain and darkness crept closer to him and the screams of the unknown hovered just on the outskirts of the darkness, pushing it in with every faint beat of his slowing heart. He tried to stop the screams but the need…the want…the hurt was just too much._

"_A nian asa." The voice was calling to him again. He wanted to go to it, to find it. But he couldn't move. "Asa'r oin."_

_His heart and soul screamed for a release, a need, that did not come, that never came. It burned him from the inside out and he knew, he just knew, that it was supposed to be a good thing, and it had been for a long time, but not lately. Now it was killing him. Claiming him in blood red, screaming pain, and empty blackness._

_Giving in, he screamed out his agony. Thankfully, it only lasted seconds before the calm blackness of unconsciousness overcame him. _

There was loud pounding coming from the direction of the outside door and faint yelling of his name could be heard. The only sound in the cold bathroom was the quiet whimper of the half-conscious boy laying in the bathtub, the water a light pink and emptying down the drain slowly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ward had been quickly replaced but then taken down just as quickly when the Veela started screaming even louder. It seems breaking the connection before the spikes were done was going to be more painful than just letting them run their course. They stood around him as he lay on the floor, screaming and thrashing around in pain.

Finally the last spike hit and Draco drew in a big gulp of air. As soon as he let it out a feeling of wrongness started growing in the back of his mind.

"Something's wrong," he ground out through clenched teeth as he struggled to sit up.

"What's wrong, Draco?" Pansy asked gently. She reached down to help him but jerked her hand back at his growl, it seemed the Veela was fully in control now.

"Hurt." Draco struggled to stand.

"Who? Your mate?" It seemed the others had unconsciously voted her to be the spokesperson in this instance because no one else spoke.

"Yes." When he didn't have the strength to stand he started to crawl towards the door.

"Draco?"

"Have…to…hurt…" He struggled to speak even as he struggled to make it to the door. His body was bowed from the amount of strain he was putting forth to get him to move and slowly fading in and out of visibility. He was sweating profusely and they could feel the heat just flowing from him. The others knew that Draco, now experiencing what a Veela in his Clan does when their mate was threatened, was inexplicably in the final stages of claiming. If his mate died or denied the claim, Draco was dead.

Taking her life in her hands, Pansy kneeled in front of the struggling Veela. Ignoring his growls and threats she stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Withdrawing her wand very slowly she first cast a calming charm and then quietly asked Blaise to go to their room and get her bag. Draco kneeled there as the calming charm took away some of the fear for his mate. He let Pansy's soothing voice help the calming charm work its magic.

Pansy kept up the quiet murmur as she waited for Blaise to get back. When the red head ran into the room, bag already open, all she had to do was reach in and remove the calming potion and hand it to Draco to take. Greg kneeled by the shaking Veela and helped him drink the potion. A few minutes later, Draco was as calm as he was going to get.

"He's hurt." Draco whispered brokenly. His lip was bleeding where he had bitten it all the way through. "Have to find him."

"We will." Pansy said soothingly, "let's get you fixed up first."

Draco growled and reached out and grabbed her shirt front, bunching it up in his hand. Greg reached out and wrapped his huge hand around Draco's thin one and squeezed forcing Draco to let go.

"Now." Draco pleaded as he finally let go. He was shaking so badly that his teeth were clacking against each other.

"Okay." Pansy was obviously shaken but she also understood his need.

At that point the friends looked at each other. No words were spoken, as none were needed, for each had known this moment would come for many years. Though they had never envisioned this. They had been brought up to show nothing-to anyone but their closest. But at this moment, they were the only thing they could be, terrified for their friend. And it showed on their faces. Their fear was there for any to see. Pansy was Draco's closest friend so it was understandable that she was the last to have her mask to fall. As soon as she was ready she raised her head and motioned to the boys to help the trembling Veela to his feet.

Greg and Vince helped him to stand and then had to hold him up as they made their way out of the room and down to the common room. They stopped at the floo where Pansy contacted Draco's father and requested his presence at his first available time. He vaguely heard his father say he would be there in fifteen minutes. He couldn't seem to care because his mate was hurt and that was the only thing running through the distraught Veela's head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The five Slytherin's walked the halls of Hogwarts, the Veela between the two hulking boys, slowly going insane. He knew his mate was somehow hurt. How, when they hadn't accepted the claim yet, he did not know. They shouldn't have that connection yet. But he did know. And his mate was hurt. And he couldn't find him. Not because he was hurt, he hadn't been able to find him before this. But he was hurt and something seemed to be guiding him to his mate.

Draco was growling now at each student they passed that turned out not to be his _alona_. He was pulling at the restraining arms of his friends but they had a tight enough grip that he wasn't getting away. He was still fading into invisibility but actually being on the move had slowed it down some, now, he was just a little insubstantial around the edges. A flash of red crossed his vision and the Veela stopped with a keening cry and shuddering body, searching desperately for the link to his mate but it was gone seconds later.

"He...is...un...c...conscious. B-bleeding. Ha...have to f-find." The voice was still Draco's but it was clogged with his desperation and fear for his unknown mate.

"We know, Draco, we are looking." Pansy's voice was no longer soothing to him and the calming charm she had placed on him earlier was already wearing off.

"Mr. Malfoy, is there a problem?" Came the calm, cool, voice of the Headmaster who was standing in the hallway blocking the Veela's progress to find his mate.

Draco growled at him and tried to pull his arms out of his friends' hands.

Pansy spoke over him. "His mate seems to be hurt. We can't find him."

"Hurt?" Dumbledore's eyes lost their usual twinkling and concern, then fear, flashed in them.

"You know…you know who-" Draco ground out as another spike hit him. He could not contain his anguished cry as the spike of longing, pain, and pure need swept through his body. Sweat broke out over him followed but a harsh wave of coldness. His vision was clouded by red again and this time it didn't completely fade away. He faded almost completely away before coming back into focus.

"Hurry!" He cried out as he tried to speak through the spike.

"I do, come." The Headmaster said hurriedly as he turned and headed up the next flight of stairs. The friends looked at each other in disbelief, then at the old fool, and then at Draco who could only shake his head. Greg and Vince firmly gripped the fading boy's arms and Pansy forced another calming potion in him. Blaise stood there, wand at the ready, to watch everyone's back. The other student's in the hall watched the Slytherin's, some with confusion and some with dawning horror as they realized what was happening.

The friend's ignored everyone as they did all they could to help Draco until he was with his hurting mate. One more telling look at each other and then they each turned to the stairs and eyed them disdainfully. Without another word they stepped forward.

"Great," Draco sighed in resignation, tinged somehow with hope, even as his foot hit the first step, "it's a bl-bloody _Gryffindor."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hey, guys! I hope that you liked this chapter. I don't mean to be so harsh with them…really I don't. It's…I just…can't help myself.

ENJOY!

LMG


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

Veela Law has its own Courts, Lawyers, and Trials. No one, outside Veela and their mates, are ever defended by Veela Law. Veela Law precedes any other Magical Creature Law. If a claimed mate has need of Veela Law, he or she has full access to any and all aspects available to them.

Veela Court, however, is only for true Veela and the mate of a Lord or Lady. Like any other Court, Veela Court has its own intrigues and politics that must be learned. Most Mates do not attend a Veela Court unless they have been claimed for a good many years as it takes a long time to learn all of the right forms of address and conduct. No one has ever come to Veela Court that was not Veela or their _alona_.

Excerpt from : A Concise History of Veela and Other Magical Beings

By: Lona Cameron Scott Cunningham

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1967.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they reached the top of the stairs, Draco was completely held up by his best friends, Vincent and Greg. And he had resigned himself that his mate was a Gryffindor: actually, he couldn't care less as long as he found him-and quickly. He could not stand by himself and his body, all but where the other two had him firmly held and his face and neck, was invisible.

They could hear the shouting before they turned the corner towards where the old loony Headmaster was ushering them. Draco could only moan between his harsh pants for breath. His vision was now completely hazed over with red. He could feel the closeness of his mate but could not bring himself far enough out of the madness to acknowledge it. All around him he could see redness except for the bright light in the center. He struggled towards that light, he knew that that light was were he needed to be. The screams of the almost mad Veela were slowly making him lose his grip on his Human side.

The Slytherins came to an abrupt halt as they saw two-thirds of the Golden Trio standing outside a portrait. The red-head was pounding on the door and the Mudblood was wringing her hands and crying.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, what is the problem?" The Headmaster asked as he hurried down the rest of the hall to the door, leaving the Slytherins behind.

"Oh, Professor," Hermione cried out in relief at seeing him. "We can't get in. Something's happened, I just know it!"

Ron turned from pounding on the door and it was clear he was anxious for his friend. "We came to get him for breakfast, we heard him screaming and then there was a flash of light. Now, we can't get in!"

Draco moaned loudly. He didn't care who was on the other side of that light-door, whatever- he just knew it was his mate. The light flared faintly in time with a faint pulse he could now feel. The Veela in him knew that his mate was on the other side of that light and it was screaming at him to go to him. Between the screaming in his head, his own moans, the Weasel's yelling, the Mudblood's crying, and the faint pulse that was growing fainter, Draco was overwhelmed.

Dumbledore turned to the portrait and started casting the first of the many opening charms that he knew. He became worried when none of them managed to open the door.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron snarled at the Slytherins. He had heard Draco's moan and he was furious that they were in Gryffindor territory.

Hermione gasped as she took in the group. She tugged on Ron's arm, pulling him away from the door. She had heard rumors that Malfoy was a Veela and searching for his mate, but when she had not seen any indication of the search, she had dismissed them. Now, it was quite clear that the rumors had been true.

"Hermione! Stop it. We have to get in there, Harry's hurt." Ron yelled as he tried to get back to the door.

For once, Hermione showed considerable strength as she pulled Ron even further from the door. "Look at him, Ron!" She hissed at him.

Ron turned with a snarl that quickly turned into a yelp as he clearly saw Malfoy.

The older boy was back to being visible, though he was indistinct around the edges. His normally pale complexion was pasty white and he had two spots of color on his face, his bitten lip, that was still bleeding, and his eyes that were glowing a soft blue color. He was moaning and his two hulking dorm mates were clearly holding him up. The other two Slytherins, the girls, were looking at them both with guarded expressions.

Albus turned from the door, afraid of what he would see. He didn't want to have to explain to a furious Lord Malfoy why his son was dead.

"I can't open the door." He said, his usually twinkling eyes were dull.

Pansy snorted and moved to the door. She raised her wand and tried a few unlocking charms herself. Getting frustrated, she sent a searching spell, frowning when it came back negative.

"The door's not locked!" She exclaimed. She reached toward the frame to pull open the door before Ron or Hermione could stop her. She gave an unladylike shriek as the power threw her back against the other wall.

"We already tried that!" Hermione snapped as the other Slytherin, she thought the girls' name was Blaze or something like that, helped her up.

Draco moaned and everyone's attention turned to him. He weakly pulled at his arms and with a nod from Pansy the two boys let him go. He stumbled to the door and fell to his knees before it. He raised a shaking hand and before anyone could stop him he touched the portrait.

A soft light came from the portrait and engulfed the kneeling Veela. They all watched as Draco struggled to get to his feet, still surrounded by the light. A commotion down the hall heralded the arrival of Lord Malfoy. He ignored everyone to go stand behind his son.

Lucius was scared when he saw how far gone his son was. "Draco?" He called softly, trying not to startle him.

Draco turned when he heard his father's voice. He smiled a beautiful smile, as only a Veela that had found its mate, could do.

"He's in there." Draco smiled again but then he frowned, "but he's hurt."

Lucius knew that the two needed to be together, and soon, or the consequences could be serious. He placed his hands on his shaking son's shoulders and turned him towards the door. He knew the significance of where they were and who was here with them. He had seen the two Gryffindors standing there, along with the Headmaster, and he didn't have to guess too many times about who was on the other side of the door.

He steadied his son as the shaking Veela reached out to open the door. When it was wide enough the two men slipped inside. Lucius knew that his son's friends would keep the others out until the claiming was over. Lucius didn't particularly want to see his son's claiming but he knew that he was the only thing keeping the distraught Veela moving.

They passed through a comfortable enough looking living room into a spacious bedroom. Draco was whimpering now and Lucius wasn't sure he would stay cognizant enough to make it to his mate. They heard the water running in the bathroom and Lucius pushed his son towards the open door.

He couldn't stop his own gasp at the sight of The Boy Who Lived, lying in the shower, naked, a horrible gash high on his right cheek that was bleeding into the bottom of the shower and flowing down the drain. Draco moaned horribly and gave a little hiccup as he fell to his knees.

The Veela crawled into the shower and gathered his mate into his arms. Lucius turned the water off and watched as his son wrapped himself around the one person that he knew would allow Draco to be whom he could be. Lucius knew the young man his son was holding very well. In fact, he had been working with him closely for the last few months. He smiled down at his son and his mate as he watched over them.

Draco didn't register who was before him until he had him in his arms. As it was it didn't really matter to him. It was as if he knew all along that it would be him. Who else could it have been? Honestly. No one Draco knew would be able to keep up with him, power wise and intelligence wise. The boy in his arms would. It was as if the Veela had come home. Draco sighed as the screaming started to fade and he knew that the madness, though not stopped, would cease until the claim was either accepted or denied. He kissed the injured cheek and watched in satisfaction at the slow healing that had begun. He pulled his cloak around him, trying to cover up his mate's nakedness.

He grew concerned when the other boy didn't immediately wake up. He looked to his father with worried eyes. He growled slightly when his father raised his wand but allowed him to cast the diagnostic spell.

Lucius frowned at what he found out. "He has lost a lot of blood, Draco. We must get him to the infirmary."

Draco snarled and wrapped himself more tightly around the other boy. His mate was hurt and his own father wanted to take him away. "No."

Lucius frowned at his son. He knew well the Veelian urge to protect their _bedine_ from anything that could possibly hurt them. But Harry needed to go to the infirmary. "Son, he needs help."

Draco shook his head and if possible drew Harry closer to him. "Bring here," Draco's voice was rough from his earlier screaming.

With a sigh, Lucius cast a drying charm on them both and then levitated them to the bed. Draco thanked him quietly as he lay beside his mate. Draco slowly lifted the blanket and tucked it around Harry's naked form. He began to croon to him softly, a song that Lucius knew well. It was a children's song about a Dragon and the one that conquered him. Narcissa had sung that same song to Draco as he grew up and he knew that it was his son's favorite.

Lucius started when Harry moaned and his eyes flickered open. The green depths were dazed but they stared at Draco with comprehension.

"Ain A?" Harry whispered before he shuddered and his eyes closed again. His body melted into the one holding him so tenderly.

Draco lifted his teary eyes to his father's and smiled. "Go," he whispered before turning his attention back to the boy in his arms. He knew they would have a rough road ahead, but he was looking forward to the journey.

Lucius stood for a moment and watched Draco try and comfort his sleeping mate. The last time he had felt such fear for his son was the day that Narcissa, his reason for living, had gone into premature labor. He thanked all the Gods everyday that they had both survived. He had been surprised when Draco had not been sent his Hogwart's letter the year he turned eleven. Looking at his son now, he saw the reason why. All Veela children, like human wizards, were listed in a book that was kept at Veela Court under the watchful eye of the Mela, the Priests and Priestess' of Shialla. On a Veela child's tenth birthday, it was decided what school that child would attend based on what the book said about their potential mates. This did explain why Draco had to wait a year and why he was the first Malfoy to not attend Durmstrang in over a hundred years.

Though there had been animosity between the two for many years, he felt confident that all would go well between his son and his _bedine_. With all that he had found out about the boy his son was about to claim, Lucius was without fear for them both.

As he stepped into Harry's common room, a portrait that he had missed in the corner, crashed open. His wand was in his hand and pointed at the person who hurried through the opening. A startled Professor Sinistra stopped as she saw the wand pointed at her chest.

"Lord Malfoy?" She asked as she looked around frantically. "Where's Harry?"

"My son's mate is hurt and Draco is with him in the bedroom." Lucius said slowly. He knew that Harry was very close to a teacher here but had not had any inkling that it was she. He wanted to see just how far her concern for him went.

"Hurt?" Sinistra could not stop the worry from being heard in her voice or seen on her face. She loved Harry as if he were her own son and knowing he had been hurt was killing her. She heard, and filed for later use, the fact that Harry seemed to be the mate of one of the strongest Veela families that there ever was.

"He will be fine. In fact, I am on my way to request Draco's friends, to go and request Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape's assistance. Draco and Harry's friends are waiting outside with the Headmaster." Lucius had lowered his wand but had yet to put it away. He was still leery of leaving the two boys in her presence.

"Professor Snape….I am not sure that is a good idea." She didn't want to tell him what to do but he did need to be aware of Harry's hatred for the man in question.

"I know of Harry's feelings towards him, but he is not the Potion's Master of a school this size without a reputation to hold up to it. Even with Dumbledore's backing."

Sinistra heard what he hadn't said. He knew that Severus was a spy. With a small nod to show that she understood what had not been said, she turned to the couch and with a wave of her wand, conjured tea. Sitting on a chair that was obviously familiar to her, she motioned for him to continue. She didn't like how the Headmaster sometimes treated Harry so she wasn't as forthcoming with information as she might have been in any other situation. She knew quite a bit about Veela Law and knew that if Harry accepted Draco's claim, then Dumbledore was out of the picture. She vowed that she would do everything she could to convince Harry to say yes.

Knowing that they all would be safe until he got back, Lucius let himself out of the room with only a curt nod in her direction. He was met by many anxious faces.

"Where is Harry? What has that git done to him?" Ron yelled as soon as the elder Malfoy closed the door behind him. Though Hermione had a firm grip on his arm, she couldn't stop his mouth.

"You show your upbringing, Mr. Weasley." Lucius said coolly, his frame stiff and disapproval clear on his aristocratic face. He watched as the boy flushed but didn't back down.

"Please, sir," Lucius turned to Pansy, "is he okay?" Lucius looked at his son's friends and was once again proud of them all. None of them showed how they really felt, managing to keep their masks in place.

"They will be fine: however, Mr. Potter has lost a considerable amount of blood from falling and hurting himself in the shower." Before he could even finish, Pansy had sent Vincent and Gregory off with a flick of her hand. Lucius knew that the boys were on their way to the infirmary and then to the dungeons. The required personnel, and potions, would be there quickly.

"Mr. Malfoy," the Headmaster tried to keep the anger out of his voice but it was apparent to the Slytherins, the Gryffindors were as oblivious as ever, "when will we be able to check on Mr. Potter ourselves?"

"Possibly not for a while." Was all that the elder Malfoy said. As a Veela Lord he was well aware what his rights were and the rights of his son. And the Headmaster knew that there was nothing he could do about it. He had a sinking feeling that he was about to lose the last hold he had on Harry.

Lucius was worried, though he didn't let that show to the others, with Harry unconscious and unable to accept or deny the bond, his son was in limbo. The madness would be kept at bay, as long as he had close contact with Harry while he was unconscious. It was when The Boy Who Lived woke that the questions they all asked themselves would be answered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucius glanced up when he heard the rapid footsteps approaching. He schooled his face into a polite smile when the Medi-witch, Madam Pomfrey, rounded the corner talking quietly with Greg. He nodded to her but declined from speaking until the Potion's Master arrived. He knew that Harry hated the man but Lucius had known him his entire life and though the man was cold and indifferent to others, Lucius knew that he was a good Potion's Master and could have been an excellent Medi-wizard if not for his association with Voldemort. For some reason, he, The Dark Lord, didn't want Severus to finish his internship at St. Mungo's and had him concentrate on potion making. Severus had been bitter since then.

The Malfoy Lord ignored Dumbledore's attempts to ask him questions about Harry's condition. As Draco's father, he now had control of Harry until he either accepted or denied the claim. And Lucius decided that he would exercise Veela Law and Draco's right to claim to the fullest extent. Anything to keep Harry out of Dumbeldore's clutches. He laughed to himself, when Dumbledore finally realized that the last claim he had on Harry was gone, he wanted to be there to see his face. The manipulative old man wouldn't know what hit him.

He had no doubt that, once awake, Harry would accept the claim. After all, he knew him very well.

Suddenly the Slytherin seventh years, who had ignored the arguing Gryffindors, turned at once to point their wands towards the end of the hallway where running footsteps could be heard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I hope that you forgive me for the wait. My laptop crashed and I had to wait for it to get fixed.

I have found the most incredible story. I have not read anything like it. I absolutely LOVE it. It is called _Growing Pains _by SensiblyTainted and it is here on FFN. It is on my favorites. I encourage everyone to go read it. It is amazing.

Also, in other news, I have decided to re-post '_I Understand'_. It will not be soon but I will re-post it within the next few months. Give me time to get over my anger.

ENJOY!

LMG


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

Veela have been known to accept all manner of Mates. From Muggle to Merpeople and fairies to fauns, anyone can be the _Alona_ of a Veela, though Wizards and other Veela are the main choice for born Veela to choose from. A born Veela is a true Veela and a non-born Veela is a mate that is not a Veela by blood.

In the future it will become hard for a born Veela to be able to sense their mate without having prior meetings with their chosen as the inbreeding of other species increase and the 'pureblood' views become stronger. Soon, there will be no such thing as a pureblood anything. The Muggle world is growing as the Magical world becomes smaller. And soon, pureblood views will have to grow to encompass all Magical beings. Unfortunately for those steeped in the pureblood view, those considered Muggle-born will be needed to keep our society growing. Veela's are one such society that has struggled greatly with the stigma of pureblood as it is quite possible that the mate of a Lord or Lady could very well be a non- magical being. Though, as a society, Veela's have struggled with the pureblood stigmata, they are one of the few magical creatures that are more accepting of others.

It is estimated that in the next 200 years there will be no true 'purebloods' left, though that will not stop the fanatical that feel that only a true magical being has the right to exist in our world. The question remains: What classifies a 'true magical being'?

Excerpt from : Veela and their Rights

By: Lord Lucien Erain Malvolio

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1921.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone turned to face the sound of the running steps, some with wands clearly displayed and others with a sense of excitement, but all were disappointed in who it was that rounded the corner.

Ginny Weasley, panting and with a face that was unattractive with its redness, stumbled to a halt. "Wha-?"

"Ms. Weasley," Lord Malfoy's curt voice slashed through the silence her abrupt entrance made, "is there something that we can do for you?"

Ginny looked at the imposing picture that the figure of Lord Malfoy made standing there wand pointed directly at her heart and gulped loudly. She was not as out of breath as first thought but she could not speak through her fear. Her frantic gaze took in the tableau of the people in front of her. Her brow furrowed in confusion at what she saw.

The Slytherins and Lord Malfoy, along with Madam Pomfrey, stood in a semi-circle in front of Harry's closed door. The Headmaster, Hermione and her brother Ron, stood in front of them and they looked quite agitated. She had never seen that expression on the Headmaster's face. Hermione, as usual, had a thoughtful look on her face and she could tell that Ron was about to blow if he hadn't already.

"I-uh," Ginny stuttered.

"I see." Mr. Malfoy's voice was cold, "it is clear that simple language skills and etiquette were not taught in your house, Ms. Weasley." He lowered his wand but it was clear from his facial expression and his tone that she was beneath him. The fact that he didn't put his wand away and that he was standing in front of Harry's door worried her.

"Ginny, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked as she frowned at her. Ginny should have been heading for her first class, not to Harry's room.

Thinking quickly Ginny gambled, "I came to see Harry."

"And, pray tell, Ms. Weasley, why would you need to come see Mr. Potter this early in the morning." Lucius was furious at her presence but knew he couldn't hex her in front of the Headmaster and her family.

"I need to get my books." Ginny lifted her head proudly, though it was not true, she knew no one here would know that. That is, if her brother kept his mouth closed.

Lucius narrowed his eyes at her, it was clear to him that the young woman was lying, but he didn't know what to do about it. It sounded to him as if she was implying a familiarity with Draco's _bedine_ that did not bode well for the two young boys in the other room.

Hermione knew that Ginny's crush on Harry had morphed into something more, but she also knew that Harry was not interested and there was no way that Ginny could be telling the truth. But she didn't know what to say to refute her claim so she kept her thoughts to herself until she knew more about what the other girl was up to. Hermione smiled to herself as she felt Ron flinch beside her, or she could just wait for him to implode.

"Ginny," Ron snapped, he knew full well what his sister was up too and he would absolutely not let her get away with it. He may hate the Malfoys with a passion but he would never interfere with a Veela bond, especially since it seemed to involve Harry. "Your books are in the common room."

Ginny flushed and sent Ron a scathing look. "It seems you have no business here." Lucius' eyes promised retribution though his tone was pleasant.

"Ms. Weasley," Dumbledore said quickly before the other man decided that offence was to be taken and acted on his belief, "breakfast is over, you should get to class."

Ginny scowled at everyone but said nothing as she turned and stomped down the hall. No one but Lucius saw Pansy turn to Blaise and signal her to follow the littlest Weasley to make sure she left and stayed away. Blaise walked away with only a nod to acknowledge her orders and once again Lucius was proud of his son's friends.

After a few tense minutes Vince rounded the corner and said quietly as he stepped into Blaise's vacant place, "Professor Snape will be along in a few minutes, he is gathering the needed potions."

Lucius knew that Harry hated the man in question and had let the other man be well aware of his feelings, but he did hope that an argument was not in the future between the two. Lucius hated being the referee.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco pulled Harry closer as he kept the tone of his voice as smooth as possible while inside his Veela side was screaming for the other boy to wake up. He didn't know how much blood Harry had lost but for it to worry his father that much that he would suggest taking him to the infirmary, it must be a lot. Draco was scared. Scared that Harry would never reach consciousness again and scared that when he did wake he would deny the claim. He was more scared than he had ever been in his life.

Draco lay there, holding Harry tightly, waiting for his father to get back with the Medi-witch and the Potions Master. He pushed all the questions from his mind. Hopefully, he would have plenty of time to ask all the questions of Harry that he wanted. He had two major ones running through his head right now: (1) Was Harry even gay? and (2) How did his father know so much about Harry?

As Draco was contemplating these questions, Harry moaned and started shaking. He pulled the other boy as close as he could but he couldn't stop the shaking. Draco was beginning to get worried when Harry started to mumble. _Well, _he thought to himself, _Harry talks in his sleep._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Harry couldn't stand the burning heat, the clawing, itchy feeling that made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He tried to reign in the feelings of despair that threatened him again but, as always, he was unsuccessful. The pain and darkness crept closer to him and the screams of the unknown hovered just on the outskirts of the darkness, pushing it in with every faint beat of his slowing heart. He tried to stop the screams but the need…the want…the hurt was just too much._

"_A nian asa." The voice was calling to him again. _

_Harry cried out, "Ain A? J'lan re asa? Lessa, ain a?"_

_His heart and soul screamed for a release, a need, that did not come, that never came. Crying out in the blackness, dark and coldness all around him, had never resulted in any response before. The need burned him from the inside out and he knew, he just knew, that it was supposed to be a good thing, somewhere in the back of his consciousness it was screaming at him to wake. Now the intense need was killing him. Claiming him in red and pain and blackness. He remembered the last spike and how painful and erotic and wanted it had been and he cried out for something to end this all._

"_Hayana? Nian?"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco was frantic. Harry's moans and thrashings had increased in intensity. He had tried shaking him but Harry would not wake up. He didn't know what to do and the Veela in him was becoming frantic. When Harry's mummers became clearer to him he was very surprised. _How did he know those words and phrases?_

Draco lowered his head and responded to Harry's mutterings with the only phrases he could. "Asa'r oin. Asa'r a'a bedine. A nian asa."

Even with being unconscious, Harry heard the words whispered to him and he calmed immediately. His sub-conscious mind knew that Draco was there. It was just a question whether or not he would accept the claim once he was awake.

The second that Harry calmed down, Draco felt a huge sense of relief. He realized that his mouth was practically attached to Harry's ear and his breath ghosted across Harry's face. Draco's face reddened as image after image of lips connecting and the words that could be whispered in the ear in front of him ran through his mind. Not able to control the Veela when it was this close and this scared for its _alona_, Draco's lips closed over the sensitive nub of Harry's ear.

At that action, the unconscious boy moaned. It was a deep moan that came from his chest but was also filled with longing. Even in his unconscious state, Harry began to pant as the Veela nipped, sucked, and breathed onto his ear. When Draco let his tongue gently caress the shell of Harry's ear, he was surprised at the full body shiver and the groan that came from Harry.

Finally, his Human side made the Veela side see reason and Draco pulled back to look at Harry's now red face. He felt bad for taking advantage of his mate. Well, for a second he felt bad, and then the Veela in him started doing a gleeful dance and Draco smiled. He barely stopped himself from giggling madly. It _was _wrong to take advantage of Harry that way but the Veela in him could not have been stopped. That small action was sure to keep the Veela Madness at bay long enough for Harry to wake up.

He leaned down and whispered into the ear he'd just been lavishing his attention on, "I want you forever. I am so in love with you already that it scares me almost. It's going to be okay, Harry. Please, wake up for me, _Niana_."

Draco was overjoyed when Harry moaned lightly and moved closer to Draco's body. "I love that sound you make. I wonder if you will sound that way when I get to kiss you for the first time." He pulled his lower body away from the tantalizing heat of the naked body beside him. It wouldn't do for Harry to wake up and then be terrified that he was in bed with an obviously horny boy, though as soon as he pulled away, Harry murmured in protest and once again wrapped himself around the unresisting Veela.

Draco couldn't help but look loving at the one wrapped so tightly around him. He was so caught up with staring at the bewitching sight of his mate laying beside him that he really didn't pay attention to what he had been saying. Later, when he remember his lack of control, he would blush and mentally curse himself for his actions. But right now, the Veela in him was satisfied and the Human part of him was finding itself solely wrapped up in his, hopefully, soon-to-be mate.

Smiling brightly, Draco started back singing to his _bedine_. He switched to singing in the Veela Language and soon all traces of discomfort and protest were gone from Harry's face. It made his heart soar to see it. He sang through all the songs that he knew and then started again. Just as he was beginning to worry about the length of time his father had been gone, he was quietly interrupted.

"It is okay to fear for him, Draco." Came a soft and caring voice from the doorway. Draco's head snapped up and around and he was rendered speechless by who he saw standing there.

"Professor Sinistra?" Draco cringed at the squeak in his voice but he was surprised.

She took a few more steps into the room to take her to the end of the bed as she smiled down at the pair. "Your father is waiting outside for Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape to come and look at him."

"What are you doing in here?" Draco forced the Veela down, until she showed that she was here to harm his mate he wouldn't attack her, besides she must have said something to his father in order for him to let her stay in here with them, though what it could be he couldn't guess.

"I was going to wait in Harry's common room, but I heard you singing to him."

Draco grimaced, "not that. Here, as in here at all." He couldn't stop his tone form going accusing, it was the Veela in him.

"Oh, that," the Professor's face flushed in embarrassment almost making her look pretty. "Harry is…like a son to me, Mr. Malfoy. I wanted to make sure that he was okay when the wards went off. Imagine my surprise when I was confronted by your father."

Draco smiled a little at that, "yes, imagine."

"You may call me Sin." She smiled back at him, "though I have tried to get him to stop calling me that for years, it seems the name has stuck."

"Sin!" Draco tried very hard to keep the amusement from his voice. Her looks were nowhere near someone you would think would be called Sin. Valer Sinistra was tall and very thin. Her black hair was always pulled back in a severe bun at the nape of her neck and she always wore robes of a deep, almost black, purple; though Draco could admit that the style flattered her. And her face seemed to light up when she talked about Harry. Draco had to retract his earlier thought about her looks. She was also the last one he would have thought for Harry to go to for anything.

Sin smiled sheepishly at his amusement. "Yes, well. What do you plan to do, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Plan?" Draco frowned at her.

"Harry doesn't have anyone of our world to stand for him. I consider it my duty." Sin could not help but give a little bow to the younger Malfoy. After all, he would one day be a very important man in the Veela world. And the Wizard world if being mated to Harry Potter meant anything by then. Somehow, she doubted that Harry would want much influence in the Wizard world by the time this war was over.

"Ah." Draco said as he turned back to look at Harry. Since he had quit singing a tiny line had formed on his forehead. Draco soothed it out with a shaking finger. "Will he accept?"

Sin heard the fear that he could not hide. As he was this close to his hoped-for-mate, the Veela in him couldn't be repressed. Not that a Veela would suppress that side of themselves. Normally, they knew almost instantly, when recognizing their mate, if the claim was going to be accepted. She had never heard of a Veela having to wait for acceptance because their mate was unconscious. Though with Harry, she didn't know why she should even be surprised.

"That depends on you." Sin said gently.

"I have never treated him well." The worry in his tone was loud and clear.

"Harry is a very intelligent young man, Mr. Malfoy. I do believe he knows all about masks and roles that have to be played."

Draco waved a hand at her but didn't take his eyes from his _bedine._ "I-…," he sighed, "I hope so."

He let the silence linger before he remembered something she had said. Turning his eyes from his _bedine_ he raised an aristocratic eyebrow at her before saying with a smirk she remembered from her class, "wards?"

Sin flushed as she sat on the trunk at the end of the bed. She gently folded her hands in her lap and gifted him with an intense look before sighing. "You see…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Holy Cow! It comes to mind that this endeavor of mine has been granted a life of its own. More so than any other story I have ever written. Is it my favorite…I honestly can't answer that question. But I do know that everything that goes on in my life has a tendency, in my mind, to revert to what would happen if I used that in a story? Sick I know!

This chapter, at the request of Malombra, has a little bit of Harry/Draco action. You may all thank her because I was going to make you wait. She demanded it, saying he had been in the shower long enough that his willy had probably shrank. Now…I know it has been a while since I was 17, and I am a female to boot (for all of those that didn't know), and I'm pretty sure a willy won't shrivel off from getting wet. I conceded to her demands. Well, actually, out of the whole chapter, I had a great time writing that part.

At the beginning of each chapter there is a little history that I have written. Yes, it has been written for a purpose. It is my hope that some of the things that I have envisioned for this story will not have to be explained at a later date because it has already been mentioned. For example: Draco's age…I hadn't wanted to explain about that for a few more chapters but there were so many of you that questioned it. I am ecstatic that it was questioned; don't get me wrong because that means that people read what I have written. And the language: I gave you a whole chapter history on the language…sorry, that is why I did not say what Harry said. Just keep in mind all the things I have mentioned as the upcoming chapters arrive. I think you will see what I mean…

_Ain A? _means May I?

_J'lan re asa?_ means Where are you?

_Lessa, ain a? _means Please, may I?

Would everyone like a chapter devoted just to the language like I have the history? Also, I need a punishment for Ginny…nothing to harsh, but she DID try to imply a relationship with Harry and I don't see Draco, or Lucius, letting that slide. Be inventive for me please.

**I wish to remind everyone that the views expressed in this story, this chapter in particular, are mine alone and do not represent anyone else. **

Gosh, my authors note is long! As always-

ENJOY!

LMG


	10. Chapter 10

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

Each Clan has two Lords and two Ladies. Each Clan has a century to rule and then must give up the claim to the throne to the next Clan. Since Earth Clan is the strongest, it rules in between the other two Clans. The ruling Clan now is the Air Clan. In two years the rule changes to the Earth Clan.

The King and Queen for this century are from the Air Clan, King Rion Relin and Queen Alza Relin. The Lords and Ladies of Air are: King and Queen Relin of Asia and China and Lord and Lady Qizan of South America. The Lords and Ladies of Water are: Lord and Lady Cunningham of Canada and North America and Lord and Lady Stewert of Australia. The Lords and Ladies of Earth are: Lord and Lady Lamar of Africa and Lord and Lady Malvolio of Britain and Wales.

The Veela culture is based on hierarchy but the King and Queen can be outvoted by a majority of the Lords and Ladies. This has only happened once, in 1370, when the then King and Queen wanted to move the Palace from the Moors of Scotland to Atlantis. They were outvoted by an 8-4 vote. Lordships are hereditary but a lady can marry into the royalty. If the couple is male/male the Veela is the Lord and the mate is called Lona. (1)

The Veela Language is very lyrical in its beginnings. There seem to be no delineating mark between consonants and vowels. A single quote mark can change a word from one meaning to another but it is curious that there is a singular effect to that usage, for example: I is A but my is a'a, same letters to show person but separated by that mark. Veela's know their language instinctually. Their mates, upon claiming, are able to learn the language quicker than a non claimed human. Mates, before the bonding, are most times already multi-lingual.

Some examples are:

Mate: alona, bedine, and hayana

I love you: A nian asa.

You're my chosen: Asa'r a'a bedine.

I love you, mate: A nian asa, alona.

You're mine: Asa'r oin.

May the Goddess shine on you: Ain e Shialla sini'n asa

Shine on you- sini'n asa

On-n

May-ain

The-e

Goddess-shialla

Shine on-sini'n

You-asa

Mine-oin

My-a'a

I-a

You're-asa'r

Love-nian (2)

Veela's are allowed certain rights in the physical defense of their mate but that does not give them free reign to accost anyone that offends their mate. Certain situations are automatically sanctioned in the Veela's defense, such as: defending their mate from physical attacks, defending their mates from mental attacks, and defending their mate and children if acts of harm are thought to be imminent.

This does not give the Veela unlimited right to harm another. But, in the defense of their mate, they are exempt from most charges.

**Ss. 14.10 Self-Defense of Mate and/or Children**

(1) Acts Excluding Convictions: Transfer to Veela Court

(a) at the time of the conduct charged to constitute the offense he/she (the non-Veela) was mated to the Veela in question; in which case the Veela Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction, or,

(b) at the time of the conduct charged to constitute the offense he/she (the Veela) was under the age of claim, or,

(c ) the offense charged is a crime of violence that is a felony or offence described in specific Sections of the Veela Law under Sub-section 23, and there is a substantial Veela Court interest in the case or the offense to warrant the exercise of Veela justice.

(2) Conduct Exclusions: Transfer to Veela Court

(a) conduct that the actor (the Veela) believes to be justified to avoid a harm or evil to himself, their mate, or their children is justified, provided that:

((1)) the harm or evil sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than that sought to be prevented by Veela Law defining the offense charged: and

((2)) neither the Codex nor other law defining the offense provides exceptions or defenses dealing with the specific situations involved; and

((3)) a legislative purpose to exclude the justification claim does not otherwise plainly appear; and

((4)) claim, or the start of a claim, must be accepted.

(b) availability of this privilege as a defense to a criminal charge depends, under prevailing Veela Law, upon showing that:

((1)) the defendant (the Veela) believed physical force to be necessary for self-protection, or protection of mate and their children;

((2)) his or her belief was based upon reasonable grounds;

((3)) the force used was believed to be necessary to avoid imminent danger; and

((4)) the force used was not in excess of that believed necessary to repel the unlawful act; and

((5)) if unnecessary forced was used, was imminent danger present.

Though most Wizards are aware from birth of the consequences of harming the mate of a Veela, recent influxes of Muggle-born Wizards and Witches have caused countless problems for Veela's everywhere. New legislation is being written to take care of this problem, as always, it will err on the side of the Veela and their mate. (3)

Veela Law has its own Courts, Lawyers, and Trials. No one, outside Veela and their mates, are ever defended by Veela Law. Veela Law precedes any other Magical Creature Law. If a claimed mate has need of Veela Law, he or she has full access to any and all aspects available to them.

Veela Court, however, is only for true Veela and the mate of a Lord or Lady. Like any other Court, Veela Court has its own intrigues and politics that must be learned. Most Mates do not attend a Veela Court unless they have been claimed for a good many years as it takes a long time to learn all of the right forms of address and conduct. No one has ever come to Veela Court that was not Veela or their _alona_. (4)

(1) Excerpt from : The Veela Hierarchy.

By: Lord Toshiri Relin

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.

(2) Excerpt from : The Veela Language

By: Della Constatine

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.

(3) Excerpt from : The Veela Law

By: Anton Malachias

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1971.

(4) Excerpt from : A Concise History of Veela and Other Magical Beings

By: Lona Cameron Scott Cunningham

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1967.


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER NINE**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

There is little known about the reproductive means of a male/male or female/female Veela mating. It is common place in their society to have such pairings, but it is a closely guarded secret as to how the line is kept going. Veelan medical personnel are all trained, and live, at the Royal Palace. At all times there are only three doctors and four nurses to take care of any and all pregnancies.

All that is known is that children are born and have the same characteristics of both parents, no matter the pairing. It is logical to assume that a Veela is able to either, impregnate their mate, or become pregnant themselves. No data has ever been accumulated to prove or disprove this theory.

Excerpt from : Veela- Myth and Legend Revealed

By: Cason Gunera

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1976.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Consequences. Every action, thought, wish, desire-has a consequence. If one weighs the consequence and can live with the outcome, is the action, thought, wish or desire achievable? How do you weigh another's feelings for _your_ consequence? A Veela isn't allowed to make that decision. They do everything in their power, once a mate is found, to make sure that the consequence benefits them…even to their own detriment. If the _Alona_ denies the claim…the Veela dies.

Action, thought, desire, and consequence.

As Lucius Malfoy, proud pureblood and High Lord of his Clan, stood outside Harry Potter's door waiting for the Potion's Master to arrive, he thought long and hard about the consequences of his spying, Ginny's insinuations, Harry's hatred for this world, and the implications of who his son's mate was and how it was going to impact the Veela world and the Wizard world.

And hoped that they could all live with them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sin flushed as she sat on the trunk at the end of the bed. She gently folded her hands in her lap and gifted him with an intense look before sighing. Her voice, when she started to speak, was soft and tinged with a sadness that was palpable. "You see…Harry didn't know he was a Wizard until two weeks before the start of his years at Hogwarts. He was given no time to decide whether or not he even wanted to come here. He was thrust into this world unaware of the expectations placed on him. At first he was happy making friends he never had before, but gradually, disillusionment after disillusionment worked to make him cold and all he wanted to do was to crawl back into the hole his family had forced him to live in for 11 years."

"He was so…_enamored _with our world when he first came here. The only reason he is still here is that he feels responsible for Voldemort still being around. As if he could have, or should have, defeated him the first time around." Sin drew a sharp breath in as she tried to control her own anger. She had gone to the Headmaster numerous times to keep Harry away from those despicable people that the old fool called his family, and each time she had been denied. She had never told Harry she had tried, why hurt him more than he already was by having to return to them each summer.

Sin watched Draco's face as she talked. She knew that as a Veela he would be angered on behalf of his soon-to-be mate. She watched as his head slowly nodded and a shaking hand reached up to push Harry's bangs from his forehead so he could lay a gentle kiss on his unconscious mate's scarred forehead.

"I met Harry his second year here and already he was wanting to run and hide. I know things about him that no other in this or the Muggle world knows. But still, even I, have only scratched the surface."

The look she levelled at Draco was filled with her own personal sorrow at her inability to help Harry. She had done what she could but knew it would never be enough. Sin made her voice as cold as she could make it when she spoke again. "We have been close ever since. I would do everything in my power to make him happy, Mr. Malfoy, even going so far as to keep from turning him over to you."

"I love him." Draco snapped at her assumption. His eyes flashed brightly for a second as the Veela reared its head in him.

"Your Veela side loves him." Sin pointed out gently. "Your Human side doesn't know him."

Draco sighed heavily, "that's not true."

"Isn't it?"

"No!"

"Tell me, Mr. Malfoy, do you understand what he will have to do in the coming months?"

Draco flinched but he gave a short nod of his head.

"You understand what it will do to him?"

Once again he only nodded his head in reply.

"And will you let him do what he feels is his duty?"

Draco drew a sharp breath. He knew why she was pressuring him to see this now, before Harry woke. His Veela side would fight against what Harry knew he needed to do. And all that would go against everything a Veela would want for its mate. He knew he couldn't stop Harry from fulfilling his destiny, and he knew with all his heart that he would be standing right beside him when that time came. The childish tantrum he had thrown just weeks ago make him flush in shame, to think he, a Veela, hadn't wanted to find its mate because of what _he _had wanted to do with his life. Draco sighed heavily. "War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel."

"Machiavelli…I am impressed."

Draco gave a small grin, "Father insisted."

"I have always thought Lord Malfoy was smarter than he seemed." Sin said in a clear tongue-in-cheek manner.

Both of them grinned at each other before Draco's face grew serious once again. "He won't stay will he?"

"Not if he survives, no."

"Can I keep him here?"

"Not if you want him to be happy."

"I see."

"Harry is magic, Draco, he will always be that way. He will leave but he will also come back. He has his own dreams, fears, and desires, just as you do." She tried to keep her voice gentle but she was unable to contain all of her censure. She knew it was going to be hard for a Veela to give in to the wants of their mate over their own, but _this_ Veela was going to have to start. And starting now would save a lot of time, energy, and anger.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was Pansy stiffening beside him that drew his attention to the approaching footsteps. Lucius forced his face into an expressionless mask and his apprehensive thoughts aside as the Potions Master rounded the corner. He watched as a slight hesitation to the footsteps of the man walking up to them was all that showed his surprise at the gathering he was seeing.

"Lucius," Snape said, ignoring everyone else though he did nod to the Headmaster, "I am surprised to see you here."

"You know the reason, Severus." Lucius kept his voice even and his expression cold. "My son has found his mate." Only Lucius saw the quick glance at the door behind him and the faint tightening around the other man's mouth.

"I see."

"Yes, we are here to keep things as quiet and uneventful for Draco's mate as possible. But there was an injury that needs attention." Lucius didn't even try to keep his tone free of hostility. "You were called for help."

Severus nodded; it was clear from where they were all standing who was the injured one. It was also clear that the Malfoy's would expect him to be on his best behavior. Any other time he would have refused help, seeing as how he hated this person, but he knew that he would help, or forfeit his life once Draco found out he had refused. He inclined his head slowly toward the elder Veela and with a twitch of his hand his wand was concealed up his sleeve. It was the only show of compliance he was willing to make.

"Shall we?"

Lucius nodded and when the Potion's Master made to walk around him stopped him with a hand on his elbow, "it may be best if you hold your tongue." It wasn't a request. The order was accompanied by a tight grip on the Dark Mark on the dark haired man's arm.

Severus drew in a sharp breath but answered with only a nod, as requested.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"A mask is just a way to hide ones true feelings and Harry has a great mask. If I didn't know him as well as I did…" Sin smiled gently at the Veela laying beside the one she considered as a son. "He has a saying that he loves to tell me, whenever I ask him why he feels that he must do what he can against Voldemort even though he truly feels it is not just his fight, but anyone's who wants to be free. _The act of nobility is not a birth-right, but is defined by one's own actions_. I don't think he completely understands why the saying affects him so."

"If that is so, then he," Draco motioned to the unconscious boy beside him, "is a King among Kings."

"He will not see it that way, Draco."

"I know, and that makes him that much more powerful."

"Powerful he is, yes, but that also makes him more vulnerable. He has had to shield himself from hurt for far too many years for it not to have effected him in some small way." Sin moved her hand surreptitiously, the wards had been breached and it seemed that they were about to have company.

Draco was silent for a moment as he thought about what she was trying to tell him, in a round about way. Harry was here, fighting, only out of a sense of his own personal obligations, not because of anything he felt he owed this world.

"You are Lord Dracon Lucien Malvolio, a Lord of the Veela Realm and a fine and powerful Wizard. You are used to it. He is not."

"He's Harry Potter, Boy Who Lived."

"No, he's Harry, just Harry."

Sin watched as the Veela's face clouded in his confusion. It was several minutes before she saw understanding blossom. She heaved a great sigh, though their journey together would be filled with peril, she was confident that Draco was what Harry needed. She watched as he was so lost in his thoughts that the young Veela didn't see the flutter of the unconscious boy's eyes. Harry was waking up. Slowly, and as quietly as she could, Sin stood and walked to Harry's side of the bed.

"S-sin?" Harry whispered, voice weak and shaky.

Draco stiffened in shock and his arms tightened uncontrollably around the boy in his arms.

As Harry's befuddled mind tried to make sense of why Sin was in his room and why it felt like a heard of elephants were tramping through his head, he felt someone's arms wrap tight around him. He slowly turned his aching head to meet concerned eyes in a face so close to his own it was at first unrecognizable. Brow furrowed he whispered, "Draco?"

Before either could say anything, the door to the bedroom opened and in walked Lucius Malfoy, Madam Pomfrey, Severus Snape, and Pansy Parkinson.

"Huh?" Harry grunted before slipping back into unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am sorry that a lot of you did not like the chapter on the History. I will not do that again, thank you all that were honest with me about it. I am so happy that so many of you read this story and like it enough to leave me a review.

I still need a suitable revenge for Ginny. Something…Slytherin. Any suggestions?

I hope that this chapter answered some of your questions, though, if I did my job right- it only created more. Thank you SO much for your reviews and interest in this story.

_War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier, if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.  
__Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) _

ENJOY!

LMG


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

**Harry's thoughts are going to be in brackets: …….. and _italics_.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER TEN**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

The History of the Veelan Race is one steeped in mystery and quite a lot of blood-shed. From civilly motivated racial wars to coups, the Veela's have had more than their share of loss. Through the interbreeding of the many species, it is thought that there will soon be only one race left on the Planet. It is unknown how many years must pass before this happens. To keep the ruling families as pure as possible, some families are beginning to use darker means to insure that the mates of their children are powerful.

What effect will this have on generations to come?

Excerpt from : Veelan History

By: Lord Rias Malvolio

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1916.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry wasn't _actually_ unconscious. Though he had lost a considerable amount of blood, that in itself wasn't enough to keep him under for very long, he was too powerful. The pounding in his head and the shaking in his arms and legs had been an annoyance and had distracted him for a few moments. By the time he had gotten himself under control there were too many people in his room to be comfortable with.

So, he played dead er…._unconscious_. And he listened.

Draco was ecstatic to see that Harry was awake. When he heard his mate whisper his name without any anger and loathing clear in his voice, the Veela in him started jumping for joy. The Human side of him, always the pessimist, snorted, Harry had lost a lot of blood and that was probably why his voice sounded so soft and full of _something _that made Draco shake and yearn for him. Draco's Veela side told his Human side to shut it before he beat it down with a sharp instrument.

Draco leaned over the side of the bed and ran a shaking finger over Harry's cheek. "Please…please be okay. _Alona _wake up for me."

It took everything Harry had to stop the shiver Draco's low and sexy whispered plea was giving him, not to mention that barely there touch of his finger on his cheek. He could hear the desperation, fear, and dare he say it-love, in Draco's voice. It made him want to open his eyes and pull him down for a gentle but I-own-you-till-the-day-we-die-toes-curling-ohmygoddess-kiss. Only the fact that there were obviously others in the room coupled with his general weakness and his uncertainty of whether or not he was **_that gay_** had Harry hesitating and deciding to remain 'unconscious'.

_I think this is the first time, since the day I met him, that he has touched me without anger in the action. Why?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco scrambled up to stand beside Harry's bed when he noticed the others in the room, Harry's hand still clutched tightly in his own. He felt his face flame as he met the laughing eyes of his best friend. He acknowledged her amusement with only a raised eyebrow before turning his attention to the Medi-witch that was trying to push him away from Harry's side. He didn't even attempt to stop the growl his Veela side released as she reached out to touch his mate.

"Draco." His father's even voice carried well in the room and gave him enough control to stop the snarl but not enough to move away as she continued to push at him.

"Stop." Draco snapped at the witch, "I stay here or you leave. Understand?"

"Mr. Malfoy, I need you to let go of him." Pomfrey's voice was soft and understanding but filled with exasperation.

Draco flushed but still held on to Harry's hand, this time pulling it so he could rest their joined hand on his chest right over his heart. "I can't." He whispered.

_He's holding my hand. Why does that feel so good? It shouldn't, should it?_ Harry wasn't surprised when he got no answer to his question. It DID feel good and right now, the way he felt, good was ...good. _Why do I like him holding my hand...I detest him...don't I?_

Pomfrey hesitated but then nodded her head. "I can do all but one diagnostic with you touching him but you will have to let go for that one."

"I-" His hesitation and apprehension clear, Draco sighed and then shook his head no

"Draco," Sin was able to keep the amusement out of her voice by sheer force of will, "you must. You do not have to go far."

Draco nodded but said nothing, he kept his eyes on Harry trying to wish his _bedine _awake by sheer force of will. With his free hand he motioned for the Medi-witch to get on with her work.

_Oh! That was actually sweet!_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Snape stared at the two young boys in disgust. Not because Draco's mate was another male but because it was Harry bloody Potter! How he despised that boy! He knew he wasn't a very nice man, and he liked it that way. Bitterness was a way of life for him now and in this one aspect, Harry Bleeding Bloody Potter, he would never change. He hated the boy with a passion he had only reserved for one other, James Potter. He felt justified in making the son just as miserable as the father had made him.

"Already going downhill, I see." Snape murmured too softly for anyone to hear.

Or so he thought.

"How dare you!" Pansy hissed.

"Ms. Parkinson, I assure yo-" Snape said as he stared down his long beakish nose at his student.

"And I assure you that one whisper of your hatred for that young man and my son will tear you limb from limb." Lucius voice was so cold there could have been icicles forming nearby. "Do not give me reason to mention it."

_Thank you partner!_

"Tell Draco." Pansy said sharply as she watched her Head of House. "Maybe then the Professor can grow up and stop acting like the six years old he is portraying at this time."

Snape drew in a harsh breath as he prepared to put his student in her place. "Fifty points from Slytherin, Ms. Parkinson."

"Fifty points! Is that all you got old man!" Pansy sneered. "That boy has done nothing to you and you know it. It is your baseless accusations that have caused the conflict between you. All because of the actions of a dead man!"

_Is that Parkinson? Pansy Parkinson, Queen of Slytherin is defending me, Harry Potter, Boy Who Lived, Gryffindor Idiot, me? What **is **the world coming too?_

Now, Pansy had a great respect for her Head of Houses' abilities, in the Potion's Classroom and in his spying, but he was a small and bitter man who was unable to garner any amount of emotion when it came to the help that the students in Slytherin House needed. It was left to the older students and the House prefects to take care of broken hearts, nightmares, and tears. Though this is their job...it is why they are the prefects and head boys and girls...but the **_spiritual and moral guidance _**should have been Snape's responsibilities as the Head of House, a Teacher, and an Adult; political differences notwithstanding. Snape should have been their Father Confessor, the one to teach them compassion and understanding...a sixteen year old is not always cool headed enough to do that. Of course, this should apply also to Dumbledore and the other teachers and adults but those in Slytherin House were left to fend for themselves. None of them liked it but they _all _knew it was better this way. The first night of each year was spent educating the new Slytherin students on House rules and House etiquette from that night on Slytherin House stood together.

Each first year was assigned a 'mentor'. These were the ones that the new students could go to for help, with anything that troubled them. Pansy herself was a mentor to two first years and a third year. Her second year student had been killed in a raid over the summer. It had taken Draco and the others days to help her get over her grief. As a pureblood they were taught to be cold and never show emotion to anyone outside of their 'group'. As a mentor to the younger students, each of them, Draco included, though he only had Greenleaf to deal with, had learned to show enough emotion to help others. It was not something that Slytherin House disclosed to the other Houses.

Severus Snape was beyond furious. How dare this…this girl, one of his own students, talk to him like that. He opened his mouth to verbally slash this child to bits when he was interrupted.

"Shut up!" Draco hissed as he stood at the end of Harry's bed he had been surprised to hear Pansy berating their Head of House in front of others (as they normally saved that for the privacy of Draco's rooms) her harsh voice had drawn him into an argument that was distracting him from his mate. In his anger at the older man, Draco let go of Harry's hand, something he had told himself he wouldn't do, to get closer to the argument. His thoughts about his Head of House were private and he would never let on how he actually felt about the older man but that was beside the point right now. Even if Pansy was right. "One more word and I swear-"

_Bloody Hell! Why does it have to be so sexy when he talks like that?_

"Draco!"

"Mr. Malfoy, that is enough." Sin's calm voice helped to take some of the edge off of his anger, well that, and his father's admonishment.

_What the hell is that bastard here for?_ Harry could feel anger, fear, and frustration come at him from somewhere. He couldn't stop the shiver that coursed up and down his spine as it felt like Draco's voice reached out an caressed him. He was pretty sure they were not his emotions so where the hell were they coming from? Where they Draco's? If they were that means that the bond had somehow already started. How was that possible? He hadn't accepted the claim…had he? _As if I would take anything that man offered me anyway. Make him go away, Draco!_

"Get out!" Draco snarled. The need for his Head of House to leave rose in him so quickly that he wasn't able to stop the Veela from trying to take control. He didn't hate Snape but right now he would gladly rip his head off and use his skull as a planter for his Venus Flytrap.

"I will not."

"What are you doing here anyway? Madam Pomfrey is here. There is no need for you to be here and I want you to leave."

"This is not your room, Mr. Malfoy. I was asked to come."

"And now you are being asked to leave." Sin decided it was time to step in before the Veela in Draco rose too high for him to be able to control.

Snape drew himself up tightly so that he could glare at her down his large skinny nose. He thought it looked intimidating but really, it only made him look like a fool. "I was summoned to help for my expertise. The potions-"

"Your expertise," Sin's voice was full of sarcasm, "can be best utilized as far away from this room as possible."

"Is there a problem?" The Headmasters voice was calm though he could feel the anger in the room.

Lucius snapped his head around to glare at the unwelcome interruption. How had he gotten pass the Slytherin students? Probably made them leave citing House points removal and detention if they didn't. If he knew Draco's friends he could bank on the fact that they had gone only far enough to make the Headmaster think they had followed his orders. His Slytherin students were not far away but hopefully those irritating Gryffindors were long gone.

Albus was very aware of the hatred between Harry and Severus. He chose to ignore it. He needed both Harry and Severus and didn't really care if the animosity between the two had risen to out and out hatred.

Severus spoke before anyone else had a chance to. He sneered at his co-worker. "It seems that Professor Sinistra has taken control of the situation and requested that I leave."

"Me too," Draco's Veela side was high in him now and he had no wish to lessen its control over his actions.

_Me three! Go wash your hair, you slimy greasy nasty git!_

Lucius walked to stand beside his son and placed a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. He could feel the tension in his son and was afraid that the Veela in him had too tight a control for Draco to break. "Das, a'a Son."

Draco was having to fight his first instinct to tear Severus into little pieces and offer them up to his _Alona _on a silver platter. He could feel his own feelings for his Head of House get regrettably darker. He tightened his hands into fists and drew in a slow breath, trying desperately to calm himself. It wouldn't do to get Harry's nice bedroom all covered in blood now would it? How would he ever explain that to his mate? With sudden insight he knew that all the feelings were not all his own and he turned to look at his _bedine_.

Taking the chance while everyone was focused on the argument, Pomfrey leaned as close to Harry's ear as she could and whispered, "just how long are you going to stay 'unconscious', Harry?"

A smirk was the only answer she got and with a chuckle she continued looking like she was doing everything in her power to '**heal**' Harry. She found it funny that he was doing this, though she didn't want to be anywhere near him if Draco found out about the masquerade.

Draco decided that he wanted nothing to do with the stupid argument that was going on around him and with one more glare at Professor Snape, he stepped back and turned his attention to the boy in the bed and the witch leaning over him. _He was so beautiful!_ With narrowed eyes he watched as Madam Pomfrey also ignored the others in the room to take care of her patient. He saw her conjure a wet cloth to wipe away the blood from Harry's face and moved forward to take the cloth from her.

"Let me." Pomfrey nodded her head as she rummaged in her bag for another potion.

_I don't want no more bloody potions, woman! You know I'm not unconscious. I think you are doing this out of spite!_

"This is not good for Mr. Potter. Either take this outside or I will be removing him from the room." Madam Pomfrey was highly upset when her demands were not even heard by the adults in the room. She sniffed angrily then left them to argue as she turned back to her patient. Really, couldn't they act like adults?

"Should he go to the infirmary?" Draco's voice was shaking and so soft that the Medi-witch almost didn't hear him. He gently drew the cloth over Harry's face trying not to hurt him anymore than he already was.

_Oh, that feels nice. I wonder if all his touches will be this soft?_ What? Harry couldn't believe that he had just thought that. He didn't want Draco touching him…did he?

"It would be best. At least over-night."

"May I stay?" Draco was trying very hard for his voice not to sound to pleading. He could tell by her small smile he hadn't succeeded.

_He wants to stay with me in the infirmary? All night!_

"You may."

_Madam Pomfrey, I am shocked!_ Harry had to fight really hard to keep a smile from his face. Draco wanted to stay with him all night. That was…unheard of in his thinking. well, his thinking until last night.

"They are getting loud aren't they?" Draco turned to see Pansy standing there staring at him as he wiped Harry's face clean of the now dried blood.

Draco sighed and smiled weekly at his best friend, "yeah."

"You okay." Pansy didn't reach out and touch him, as she would normally have. She knew better.

"As long as I can see him, I'll be fine, thanks." Draco turned from Pansy and locked his gaze back onto Harry. He couldn't believe how beautiful his mate was.

_He sounds like he really cares. Can I believe this? Am I his mate? Why does he have to be sweet now? Where's the bastardly git that was there last year?_

"-now see here-" Draco and Pansy both flinched as their Head of House's voice rose and his anger got the better of him. He was surprised that his father had stayed out of the argument. Turning to look at him and noticing the faint smile on his father's face, Draco shook his head. The littlest things amused him now, Draco thought fondly of his father.

Draco turned to Madam Pomfrey and could see her anger quite clearly. "Take him to the infirmary."

Pomfrey turned to the young Veela and studied him for a moment. As the resident Medi-witch of Hogwarts, she was one of the few that was trained in Veela anatomy and physiology. Of course, she didn't know the first thing about Veelan pregnancy but she had been at Hogwarts long enough to have picked up enough to help a Veela and his/her mate. She could see Draco's anger at the others in the room but overshadowing that was his fear for his mate. She would normally have wanted Harry in the infirmary but she wasn't sure if he should be moved.

"I need to run one more test and then we can move him if it is okay." Pomfrey kept her voice even and low, trying to keep the others out of the conversation. Besides, if Harry, whom she was very close to as he spent more time in her infirmary than any other student in the 77 years she had been here, accepted the claim, the young Veela would have a huge say in his care and well-being. She could see that, for Draco, the claim was already over. All that was needed was a conscious Harry Potter, and that was something that she could provide.

"Okay." Draco forced himself to step away from Harry so that she could finish and they could leave. It was a move that was a physical hurt as his body was clamoring to stay as close to his hurt mate as possible.

"Ms. Parkinson," Madam Pomfrey turned to the young Slytherin standing close to her friend, "conjure a stretcher for Mr. Potter, please."

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey." Pansy slowly drew her wand. She made sure that Draco saw her doing it before she cast the spell. All they needed now was a furious Veela in attack mode. She had seen it only once, when a very drunk wizard at one of Mrs. Malfoy's famous parties decided he was a better mate than Mr. Malfoy was. Come to think of it she hadn't seen that particular wizard since that night. Oh, well, she happened to like the new Minister of Sports from Italy. He was very young and very sophisticated. She had liked him so much she had sent her older sister an owl introducing them. The family fully expected a wedding soon.

Pomfrey levitated Harry over to the stretcher. She didn't say a word when Draco reached down and grabbed onto Harry's hand tightly.

_He is holding my hand so tight. Can we do this? Will he be worth it?_ Harry decided not to think about this anymore. His head was pounding and the others yelling wasn't helping.

"Severus-" The Headmaster tried to calm him down as he could see that this was about to get ugly but was interrupted by another angry professor.

Madam Pomfrey ignored everyone as she guided the stretcher to the door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lord Malfoy follow them his face, normally cold and unemotional, was full of anger and amusement, a very ugly combination that made him look like he was sucking on a lemon and smiling at the same time. She filed that memory for later viewing and sharing. As she steered the stretcher around the Headmaster she heard Sinistra snort and knew that her blowout was going to be spectacular. She slowed so that they could all hear it.

"No! **_YOU_**, see here, as Harry's familial representative in the proceedings with the Malfoy family's youngest son on the claim of Veelan Rights, I have the say. So, Snape," the derision in her voice was loud and clear, "I suggest you leave this room immediately. If we need any more potions we can send someone to get them." Sin was proud of herself. She had stayed calm, in a way, and hadn't hexed him yet. Sin didn't hate Severus, but she did disapprove of the way he treated the other students, especially those in his own House. He could be a small and bitter man on his own time but not when it involved Harry.

_Now that is why I love this woman!_ Harry was unable to stop his grin and tried to crack his eyes open to see if he could see Snape's face. A sharp pain lanced through his head so unexpectedly that he wasn't able to stop his moan of pain.

"We need to hurry." Draco gasped as he tried to hold onto Harry's hand, lean over to peer at Harry, reign in his Veela side from taking control and going crazy, and look to find his Dad. "Dad?"

"I'm here, Son." Lucius kept his voice calm and once again settled a hand on Draco's shoulder. "He'll be fine, let's just get him to the infirmary."

"I can't get the stretcher out the door unless you let go, Mr. Malfoy." Pomfrey said quietly. The four of them had ignored the rest of the argument still going on behind them to turn their attention to the task of calming the overly distraught Veela.

Draco sobbed, it was too much, everything that had happened had now overwhelmed him to the breaking point. All he wanted to do was take his mate in his arms and he couldn't. "I can't."

"Hop up." Lucius took control and picked up his son to settle him next to his unconscious mate. He smiled indulgently at his son as he pulled his _bedine _as close as possible on the slender stretcher. The was barely enough room on there for the unconscious boy but Draco made short work of the lack of width.

_Oh My! He's holding me so tight. Is he crying? Draco Malfoy is crying over me._ Harry was completely shocked. He could feel the stretcher moving again as Draco settled more comfortably around him.

"Please, Harry, please, be alright." Draco pleaded unknowingly as he tightly wrapped his arms around Harry.

Draco's pleading was making Harry feel ashamed for his 'unconscious' act. But it had helped him to see that Draco really did care for him. But was it because his Veela side was making him or because **_he really did care?_** Until that question was answered he couldn't show any feeling towards the other boy. No matter how much, deep down and in dreams he never acknowledged, he wanted too.

With a quiet sigh that only the boy holding him heard, Harry let himself succumb to the countless potions that Pomfrey had poured in him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Headmaster smiled at Sin and then nodding his head at her, drug Severus out of the room, hushing his protests. He heard the spell cast by Sin just as the door was about to close and couldn't help but chuckle. Severus should know not to mess with an angry mother…mother type figure. The consequences could be bad. Or funny in his case.

Albus decided not to tell Severus that he now resembled a big footed, big eared, shortened, version of himself. He looked vaguely like a squished house elf, as he was barely over two feet tall. Thankfully, the corridor outside of Harry's rooms was clear of the students, as he had sent them on their way.

"Tea, Severus?" Maybe if he could get his changed Potions Master to his office the hex that Professor Sinistra had cast on him would wear off before his next class. It was clear that the other man did not know he had been hexed. Albus made a note to himself to find out what hex she had used, it was very entertaining.

Severus didn't answer but gave a jerk of his head and swirling his cloak, stalked down the hall. He let his dark thoughts and hatred rise for Harry. He sneered as his vicious thoughts centered on a potion he was thinking of brewing. He hadn't brewed it only out of respect for the position he was in. But after today, he couldn't care less if the Boy Who Lived was found dead after puking his insides out.

Albus laughed trying to do it quietly. He didn't see the calculating and hatred that graced the altered face. He let the humor overshadow the seriousness of the situation; ignoring what it would do to his Potion Master to be so undermined like that. The stomping, arms crossed, head raised high, mouth tightened into a straight line, and his cloak swirling around him, well, it was impressive when Snape did it, when he looked like he was suppose to. But now, even the esteemed Headmaster of Hogwarts couldn't keep his laughter in.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the Medi-witch and the others walked by, a lone figure watched from a dark alcove at the end of the hall. Angry, but obsessed eyes, took in the fact that the Veela was wrapped around _her _Harry as if the supposed claim had already been accepted. She didn't believe in this farce! Harry was hers and the second she could get him alone she was going to remind him of it!

As she stepped out to go to class, Ginny didn't see the silent figure shadow her down the hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Das, a'a Son _means Calm, my Son.

Well, here is another chapter. I have taken into consideration the many, and all very nice, punishments for Ginny. It will be coming up in later chapters. I hope I do it justice.

Another update on a different story: I will be reposting 'I Understand' that FFN deleted a few months ago. Keep a watch out for it!

Sorry for the long time between chapters. At first it was because I was stumped on how to proceed and then it was because of real life rearing its ugly head. But…hopefully, that is all taken care of and we can get back to this!

ENJOY!

LMG


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

The Veelan Race has had to evolve quickly in order to survive. It has encountered conflicts along the way but for the most part they have been easily overcome.

New cases in the Veela Court and changes in recent Laws, have made transition into 'Modern Times' easier. Of course, the generations of soon to be mated Veela are, for the most part, younger and more accepting than in the older times where change was abhorred. The Younger Veela have taken more control over their lives causing these new changes.

Having the future King of the Earth Clan so young has also had a lasting effect on the younger generation of Veela. The Young Veela Prince will rule the Clans within the next century. Will the Veelan Race prosper or die out due to this unheard of legacy? Only time will tell what kind of leader the Young Veela Prince will be, but he has grown up with the teachings of one of the greatest leaders of the Veelan Race in our time, High Lord Lucien Abraxus Malvolio.

Excerpt from : Modern Times and the Veelan Legacy

By: Lord Toshiri Relin

Information courtesy of The Hogwart's Library

anno domini merlin 1986.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco hovered around Madam Pomfrey as she settled Harry into a bed in a secluded room at the very back of the infirmary. A quick glance around showed that this room was Harry's, an open cabinet held potions that ranged from blood replenishing potions to common headache ones. It was the blanket and bed sheets that gave it away though as Harry had the same ones on his bed in his private room. The ceiling also drew his attention as it showed a night sky that was sparkling with millions of stars. Draco's sharp gaze was pulled from his silent contemplation of the ceiling when the Medi-witch cast one last charm on his mate and stepped back.

His hesitation to get any closer was evident but so was his need to be as close to Harry as possible. He wanted to fall to his knees at the side of his bed and spend the rest of the day and night watching over his _bedine_. But he knew he wasn't yet accepted. He nervously wiped his sweaty hands up and down his legs over and over as he bit his much abused, almost bleeding lip. The urge to gather Harry up and run off to a safe place was stronger here than when they had been in Harry's room though the actual trip here was a blur to the young Veela. He had spent the trip revelling in the images, feelings, and the joy of holding his mate in his arms and had been very reluctant to let him go. It had taken a sharp word from his father for him to get up from the stretcher.

"He'll be asleep for at least a few more hours. I had to give him a dreamless sleep potion along with the blood replenishing potion." Madam Pomfrey talked to the Veela before her but she was also facing and speaking to the Veela's father as it was clear he would need to know what had been done to help heal his son's mate. She continued as she saw Lord Malfoy's head nod in acknowledgement. "His loss of consciousness was due to head trauma and the amount of blood lost."

Madam Pomfrey hesitated before deciding to keep her counsel. She loved Harry deeply and the way he had been raised was a bone of contention she had with the Headmaster. She had healed many an injury when he had come back to school after spending the summer with his relatives. When he hadn't shown up the night of the welcoming feast she had sought him out. She had listened to his story about the events of this last summer and had been glad for him and made sure he knew to come to her if he needed anything.

Draco licked his dry lips, "will- will he be all right?"

"He will. Harry is a very strong individual, Mr. Malfoy; he will not be down long. He does need rest though and that is why he was given the dreamless sleep potion." The dreamless sleep potion would make Harry sleep as he went through the painful process of his body producing more hemoglobin As an accomplished potion's student Draco would know this and not question the confusion and pain that Harry would experience when he woke. As a Veela, Draco was going to have a hard time reigning in his natural reaction to his hurting mate.

Draco reached out and ran a shaking hand down Harry's right arm. His fingers traced a thin white line of a scar that ran from the outside of his mate's arm from elbow upwards. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood at the flash of anger he felt at the evidence of harm to his beloved. The hand not tracing the scar tightened into a fist. "Where did this scar come from?"

Madam Pomfrey smiled gently at the upset Veela before her. "He got that last year. I am sure if you ask him he will tell you. I hear it is quite the funny story."

Draco felt the irrational anger rise in him at just the thought that his _bedine_ had been injured, funny story or not. He stamped it down by sheer force of will and just nodded. All of a sudden the enormity of the situation hit him and suddenly he was tired. Now that his mate was found, the days of worry and fear were almost over, though he hadn't been accepted yet…there is hope, but not certainty. Once again he pushed that thought down by sheer force of his will. Where he was getting the strength he didn't know, as a Veela the Madness had weakened him considerately. But he was now a Veela that knew who his mate was even if he was still unsure if he was going to be accepted or not.. Because of the turmoil these last few weeks, emotional and physical, his body was shutting down and his mind was finding it hard to keep working, all that kept running through his mind as he stared at Harry was, '_His mate! He had found his mate!_'

"Draco," his father's voice was loud, and sharp, enough to shake Draco out of his musings, "you should take this time to rest as well."

Draco nodded and pulled the chair, a comfortable one that was not in the hideous colors of his mate's house but was covered in soft blue velvet, next to Harry's bed as close as he could get it. He sat and drew Harry's hand to his chest and laid his head down trapping their joined hands together under his chin. Soon, light snores were heard from both boys.

Lord Malfoy pulled the medi-witch aside and that left Pansy to watch over the two sleeping boys. Now that they knew who Draco's mate was they could step back and watch the drama unfold as the two rivals went head to head. It should prove to be very interesting. Harry was going to fight this for a little while at least, it was a given based on their history. Draco, though he might want to fight just on principle, wouldn't because his Veela side wouldn't let him. Pansy knew that once Draco was assured that Harry would accept the claim he would be more inclined to argue with his potential mate. Right now, Harry was in the enviable position to ask anything from the young Veela. And Draco would do everything in his power to see that Harry got what he wanted. If he did argue, the emotional and physical repercussions would be high.

Pansy expected that the fights they had had before this would be nothing compared to what they would be now. Legendary – was a word coming to mind – Hogwarts would be lucky to still be standing. The most powerful wizard since Merlin and the Prince of Slytherin - and a Veelan Sovereing-to-be of course. Their fights were going to be something to be feared. She suspected that Draco would be in for some heart ache, before Potter would accept the claim. Had she really known what Harry's childhood had been like, she would have had no qualms; as it were, she had no choice but to be afraid for her friend.

She leaned down to whisper in the unconscious boys ear knowing that he couldn't hear her, this was all for her own piece of mind. "You had better not hurt him, Potter. I know a curse that will boil your blood, literally. Do not give me reason to use it."

The other boy shifted on the bed but didn't wake. The frown gracing his face was actually cute and with that thought came one that most females make at some time when contemplating their friend's love life. _They will make beautiful babies together! _She smiled down at them both; Draco would string her up if he knew she had just thought that. But they would, with Draco's pale coloring mixing with Harry's golden coloring, their children would be a sight to behold. She could see twins, one of each, one with Draco's pale eyes but Harry's coloring. The other would have Harry's bright green eyes and Draco's pale coloring. Standing beside each other they would be the embodiment of their parent's love for each other.

Pansy had no doubt that Potter would, eventually, accept Draco's claim. (After all, who wouldn't?) Though Potter, she hesitated to refer to him as Harry just yet, was not wizard bred, he would have had the same DADA lessons as the other fifth years and would have heard of the benefits of having a Veela for a mate. But this was HARRY POTTER, and nothing was ever straightforward where he was concerned. '_We shall just have to wait and see; and be ready to pick up the pieces wherever they'll fall.' _She shivered; in anticipation or dread, she wasn't quite sure.

She loved Draco as a brother, but she knew that his arrogance and stubbornness got in the way of reason, sometimes. Would Harry see beyond the mask, to the vulnerable boy called Draco? Or would his own special brand of arrogance prevent him from reaching out to the other half of himself...the half he did not know he was missing? And Harry was arrogant! No doubt about it. But it was an arrogance that he'd had to cultivate to survive in the Wizard World. The arrogance of one who knows he is on the side of the light. What Pansy did not know was that he too lived behind a mask and that arrogance he showed was a self-defense mechanism to shield him against so many hurts...too many for any of them to count. "_Yes, we shall have to wait and see...and hope!"_

The Slytherins, Draco and his friend's, had made it a point to know as much about the 'Golden Trio' as was possible to find out, the Hogwart's persona at least. Of course, no one knew as much as Draco did. Thinking about that it was now apparent why he had been so obsessed over Potter since their first day here at Hogwart's.

She knew that it was going to be rough for the both of them but it was a dream for every young witch and wizard to be the mate of a Veela. Harry would have the kind of unconditional love and family that he craved since he could remember and Draco, though he had fought it the last few months, would know that he was accepted for himself, not because he was the next Veela Prince or because he was the Slytherin Prince. Each of the friends knew what Draco had been through, all his doubts and fears and Pansy knew that Harry was the one to lay all of them to rest. Pulling another chair close to the sleeping boys, she settled down to wait for them to wake. She wouldn't miss this for the world as it was looking up to be a spectacular fight and was sure to rock the foundations of the school. It would be years before everyone stopped talking about it she was sure. Looking around she liked the feel of the room and knew that both boys would be spending time in here. If the infirmary was left standing that is.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_He couldn't stand the burning heat, the clawing, itchy feeling that made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He didn't know if the crushing weight on his chest was real or imaginary. He tried to reign in the feelings of despair that threatened him again but, as always, he was unsuccessful. The pain and darkness crept closer to him and the screams of the unknown hovered just on the outskirts of the darkness, pushing it in with every faint beat of his slowing heart. He tried to stop the screams but the need…the want…the hurt was just too much._

_He cried out, "Lessa, ain a? Nian?"_

_He remembered that at this point he was normally screaming out for a release that never came. Crying out had never resulted in any response before. The need burned him from the inside out and he knew, he just knew, that it was supposed to be a good thing, somewhere in the back of his consciousness it was screaming at him to wake. He cried out for something to end this all._

"_Draco!" _

Harry woke with a scream lodged in his throat. His body was drenched in sweat and his breathing was ragged and loud. He had not gotten used to the dreams. Maybe now that he knew why he was having them, they would slow down and eventually disappear. Maybe when he either accepted or denied the claim? He didn't know and frankly he didn't want to think about it right now. He tried to move and that was when he realized that his hand was caught in a tight grip.

Draco woke to Harry's voice calling out to him. He felt a tug and the hand clasped tightly in his own pulled him even further from his sleep. He opened his eyes to see Harry's confused green eyes looking at his hand. Draco smiled and without much thought reached to pull his mate into his arms.

Harry, who was not all the way awake yet and who was still pushing the last vestiges of sleep away, stiffened. He was overcome by feelings that he wasn't ready to face yet and the fear from the dream was still heavy in his heart. Feeling more confused than he had ever felt before, he pushed frantically at the arms that held him, small whimpers and pleas falling on the ears of the Veela that held him. Harry had never had this kind of affection shown to him and wasn't dealing with it at all well. Add to this the fact that he was not quite sure if he could trust Draco, and his reactions were only to be expected. He had been betrayed too many times and was very leery of trusting people with his heart. He was willing to sacrifice his life, but his heart?…no! It was too fragile to risk.

The Veela in Draco sensed Harry's withdrawal and took it the only way he could- Rejection! His whole being shuddered and he was overcome by utter devastation. With a low cry he stood and ran from the infirmary believing he understood why Harry did not want him.

Lucius stepped towards Harry with a grim look on his face, which immediately softened at seeing the young man's distress reflected in the large green eyes. He stretched his hand to gently caress the white face and with a nod of understanding let him know that he would deal with his upset son. Harry, with the imagery of his dream still burning in his mind laid his aching head back on the pillow and closed his eyes, totally ignoring the presence of the other Slytherin in the room. Pansy had instinctively stood up, face twisted with rage and ready to wring the Gryffindors neck for upsetting her beloved friend. The look on Harry's face stayed her hand. The presence and understanding of the elder Veela – not someone to cross at any time – made her realized that this was bigger than she could deal with at present. Without a word, but wit a promise to herself that she would get to the bottom of this, she followed Lord Malfoy out of the infirmary, leaving Harry half asleep and alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Draco and Lucius on the way back to the Slytherin's quarters and Madam Pomfrey in her storage room, selecting various potions for the next few days use, Harry let himself fall back onto his pillow closing his eyes tiredly, trying to think his feelings through. He clearly remembered the fifth year class about Veela, not to mention all the research he did privately. Had he been thinking about it too deeply he might have questioned his motives about that time in fifth year when he spent more time in the library than even Hermione. He had been so obsessed with learning everything he could about Veelas. In hind-sight, that had really been a good idea. He was sure that outside of the Veelan Race itself, he was the most informed wizard about their culture.

He thought of his future plans and how a relationship with a Veela would turn them upside down, of how hard he had fought for his independence from everybody, and here he was trapped again…he felt like screaming at fate, for once again playing him dirty. He wanted to run as far away from all this as he could possibly go. He raged and fumed...and then a stray thought hit him full blast. Draco's hand holding his so desperately, like a drowning man holds on tightly to a piece of flotsam. The warmth in Draco's eyes, hot enough to melt any icy heart. To be surrounded by such warmth! To be cherished by such love! Was that really a trap? But how was he supposed to deal with such declarations of love? He had no experience with this kind of emotions. Lust, yes but Love?

How do you return love, when love, but for a brief moment, tainted by blood, has never been part of your life? He knew the Veela loved him as that was an intrinsic part of their makeup. But did Draco love Harry? That was a question he couldn't answer as yet. His head was spinning from all the thinking. This was a question that was just going to have to wait.

Sighing, as he rubbed his throbbing temples, Harry tried to get his mind to slow down enough for the potions to work again so he could sleep. Totally unaware of his surroundings, he did not hear his door open quietly and then close with a gentle snap, nor did he sense the malevolent presence of another. He was in the infirmary, behind a warded door, one of the safest places in Hogwarts, and so he paid no attention to what was going on around him.

Suddenly, and very shockingly, he felt himself caught in a strong embrace, but his senses warned him that this was not Draco returned to claim him. This presence was far more unwelcome than that of the Veela. It had gotten dark in the room making it hard for him to see properly, but the shape of his attacker was unmistakably that of a female. He tried to fend the intruder off, but she was too strong for him in his weakened state, and his inherent gentleness stopped him from hurting the unknown female.

But as the girl begun to kiss him ferociously and possessively, biting at his lips when he didn't open them for her questing tongue, he panicked and tried to struggled even more strongly. The intruder though, had come prepared, and with a quick spell bound him to the bed and then silenced him. Throwing her wand to the side she proceeded to grope and fondle the terrified boy under her. Harry was totally unprepared for this kind of attack to come from the people of his own school. She gripped his sides hard enough to immediately cause bruises, biting and gnawing at his neck hard enough to draw blood. Blood which he could feel start to trickle down his neck to pool against the mattress and his skin. Desperately trying to pull away from the intrusive and ungentle hands but stopped by the spell silencing and binding him, Harry forced himself to push down his rising horror and listen to his attacker as she muttered, louder and louder, while trying to rape him.

"You are mine." He heard muttered in between more painful bites to his neck. "Draco will never have you, he is not worthy." The longer the insane ramblings went on the harder and more frequent the bites to his neck. By now his neck and other places that she had been biting were covered in blood. He couldn't see her face clearly but the slickly wet smile she flashes him is unmistakable. Harry starts to choke on the fear and bile that rises in him, he had been through so many awful things in his life but this was going to break him, he knew.

"I was here first! You are mine! You were always mine! I will not give you up to that bastard! That Slytherin!" By now she was panting too much to continue biting him and her voice had become quite hysterical. To his horror, Harry finally realized who his attacker _was_.

"_No! God, no! Ginny…? Draco, help!" _He could not yell out though as he had been silenced. As he yelled on and on in his head, tears started to fall from his reddened eyes. He was not only frozen by the spell anymore, his fear now had a hold on him far stronger than any spell. Harry was now terrified, humiliated, and deeply betrayed. The figure, whom he had now identified as the younger sister of his best friend, continued to mutter insanely in his ear.

"Harry, my beautiful Harry. Mine...alwaysss mine. I know you love ME! I have always known...you came for me when I wasss in danger... and now I come for you... to sssave you from the monssster who would take you away. I won't let him. You belong to me, to the one who was alwaysss faithful to you." The voice, now almost a mechanical sing song had gradually acquired a snake like hiss in its tone, a sound he had heard before. A sound he remembered from uncountable nightmares. The voice of an enemy.

The horror of it all made him want to retch. But, he could not move. He could not fight. He could not run. He had to lay there, heart sore and physically beaten so far down that all that Voldemort had ever put him through was as nothing compared to this.

Frantically, doing the last think he would thought would work, he launched a mental cry for help to the only person he knew could hear him and free him from the attempts of rape. He was afraid that his call would not be received as he had not yet accepted the claim. In despair, he wondered if Draco would hear; he had not accepted the claim. Would Draco hear him? And if he did, would he come?

As his assailant reached for the waistband of his pajama bottoms the fear holding him was broken. Harry struggled more frantically and mentally screamed out Draco's name as loud and as forcefully as he could.

"_Draco!...Oh Gods...Draco!" _He sobbed. "_Please! I cannot...I can't stand it...Help me!"_

Harry screamed as the questing hand reached his body's most intimate and vulnerable part.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am sorry about such a time lapse. Holidays were a more stressful time this year than normal for me. I also broke my hand, don't ask-please!, so it was rough typing at all. I actually type about 150-160 words a min but I was hen-pecking it through this. I hope that you all are not TOO mad at the big delay. Also, I am reposting 'I Understand'. Thank you to all that kept at me, and you know who you are, to get back to writing it. And I have a new one that I would like to go read, it is called 'Potter, Harry Potter'. I think it is a funny little start to a maybe nice little story. Well, actually that doesn't make any sense but please go and read it and let me know what you think.

ENJOY!

LMG


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Draco had been listening to his father explain about the effects of the potions that Harry had been given, something he should have known as potions was his favorite subject. It had taken only a few minutes before he had calmed down but now he was scared that Harry thought him weak. As a male Veela, having their partner think them weak was tantamount to the worst personal insult you could give them. Veela's took care of their mates, and their families, no matter the circumstances.

He had tuned Lucius out as soon as he had calmed down. Sometimes his Dad could rattle on and on and it was getting a little bit on his nerves but he would never tell that to his face. No, Draco loved and respected his father greatly but he also had a large dose of fear for, and of, him as well. But the last few minutes he had been feeling quite a bit of restlessness and he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

He nodded distractedly at his father just to let him know that he still heard him talking, though listening and understanding was a different point. He didn't want to hear any more about what Harry may or may not be going through. It wasn't as if _he_ was going to deny Harry, it could possibly be the other way around. This acceptance thing between them was not over; he knew it for a fact, even if his Father didn't. He wasn't a determined bastard and the Slytherin Prince for nothing. What was that muggle saying? '_He always got his man'_ or something to that effect. The Veela would 'get his man' it would just take some work, some tears (hopefully not), and a huge heaping pile of apology. Draco hated to apologize as he felt he was often right, but he would for his mate. He would do anything for him- and he had a bad feeling that he would have to do some really strange things to get Harry to believe he was for real. Whatever it took he promised himself. He knew he was rambling and he tried very hard to bring his focus back to his Father and to actually listen to his advice.

The disquiet he had been feeling over the last few minutes escalated into Harry screaming in his head and without a doubt he knew that he was hearing the call of a Veela's mate in trouble, and without even thinking he stood and blindly rushed out of his room. He rushed straight to his mate inexorably pulled by that anguished mental cry for help. The fear, from Harry and his own, almost overwhelmed him but he was able to push it away just enough to keep his head and stop his body from bashing into walls as he ran as fast as he could. With a confused look after his fleeing son, Lord Malfoy quickly followed. The young Veela didn't stop even when his father yelled at him to; the call of his _Alona_ was too strong.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the two Veela raced towards the infirmary, someone else had reached it before them. After momentarily freezing at what the newcomer saw, he soon realized what was happening. Immediately he reached the couple on the bed and pulling Ginny by the scruff of her neck shouted "let go of him, you Bitch!"

Theodore Nott, of Slytherin House, had had a powerful crush on Harry for some time, and the sight of his beloved being mauled was more than he could stand. Furiously he dropped the small bag of chocolate frogs he had gotten earlier that day from Honeydukes as he knew they were Harry's favorite, and when his pulling didn't remove the girl from the terrified boy underneath her, he drew his wand and with a venomous hiss yelled, "_expelliramus_!" He ignored the loud thud as the girl's head hit the wall first followed quickly by her body and then all of her slid to the floor, unconscious.

The thud of a body hitting the wall behind them was ignored by both young men. Theodore was breathing harshly and both were pale and shaky. They stared at each other with wide eyes but only one of them also had fear and shame in them. The only sound in the room for a long moment was his loud breathing. It took a few minutes for Theodore to work out that Harry wasn't moving or making any noise, he quickly cast a '_finite' _towards him and Harry's harsh breathing was now added to his own as the only sounds in the room.

When Harry, overcome by shame and profound hurt and not a small amount of fear curled up into a miserable ball and started to quietly cry, Theodore's heart broke. With a smothered curse he ran to take Harry into his arms in an attempt to comfort him. His intentions were honorable and initially all he wanted was to console the hurting and terrified young man, the man that he loved with all his heart. Holding him tightly, he murmured little words of comfort and endearment. His love was sincere and he hoped that with time he could be the one Harry turned to. A hope doomed to fail, for Theodore did not know that Harry had been claimed by a Veela. And even should the Gryffindor refuse the claim, Draco would never allow one of his own to plunder what he could not have!

Harry, crying quietly, was unaware that he was being held. His heart was bruised and his mind in turmoil, rolling in black thoughts of shame. He had always considered Ginny like a sister despite her recent actions and to be betrayed by someone who had had his unconditional love, someone he trusted, was just too much. The tears of shame were hot on his cheeks, feeling like a brand that burned directly to his soul as they fell. He didn't know which way to turn now. Would the Weasley's, whom he had thought of as part of his family for the longest time, reject him because of Ginny and now Draco? Harry didn't want to think of it anymore! It hurt too much.

Theodore talked to Harry, keeping his voice low, gentle, and as calm as he could. The need to kiss away those terrible tears was almost overwhelming, but now was not the time, or the place. He was trying to get Harry to look at him in a more favorable light, true, but he wasn't going to take advantage of him when he was like this, Slytherin or not he had morals.

"It's okay, Harry. She's not going to hurt you anymore. I will not let her near you again, nor anybody else who might hurt you. I promise!" Over and over, Theodore repeated those calming words, all the time gently rubbing Harry's back trying to ease his wounded soul. After long minutes the sobs did lessen but he did not stop his calm, soothing, words.

Draco burst into the infirmary closely followed by a grim looking Lucius. He had expected Harry to be hurt or bleeding or any of a thousand horrible things that had come into his mind while running to his rescue, what he did not expect was to find his mate being held in someone else's arms. The hurt of this perceived rejection and the fear for the life of his beloved were clouding his thoughts and he did not notice the unconscious body of a very disheveled looking Ginny, all he saw was someone usurping his rightful place and his feelings turned to incredible rage and jealousy.

With a blood curdling scream the Veela launched himself at the unsuspecting Slytherin intent on murder and mayhem. His scream got caught in his throat and came out as a pained whimper as he was brought up short by the powerful hold of his King and Father who had had the time to see Ginny's body laying on the floor and to come to a very different conclusion, once again. But then he knew Harry as Draco could not. Draco couldn't understand why his father had stopped him. It was his right to defend what was his. The King ought to understand that. It was his right!

Their headlong rush through the infirmary had drawn Madam Pomfrey's attention and she was the one who ran to the unconscious girl. The two Veela's ignored her and focused on the two figures on the bed.

With a strength born from his rage, Draco was able to free himself from his father's grasp, he then screamed out his rage as he grabbed the back of Nott's neck to pull him forcibly away. On hearing Draco's yell, Harry jumped up with a loud sob and, crying harder than before, threw himself at the Veela. Draco dropped the other boy in order to catch his mate in his arms. The hysterical boy drew all his attention and he let his father take care of the details. He didn't yet know what had happened but, and this was the Veela talking, anything that got Harry in his arms was good. In his joy he had completely forgotten his fury of only seconds before and why he had run to the infirmary in the first place. He buried his nose in the softness of Harry's hair and just held him as tightly as he could for as long as the Gryffindor would let him. He knew that this was not how Harry normally acted and deep down he feared for the reason that would cause such and strong willed man as he was to break down this way. Draco vaguely registered his Father talking but decided to focus only on Harry.

Lucius had to refrain from committing mayhem himself, though Harry was not his mate he _was_ his son's and Veela kept their families as safe as they possibly could. It was in their genetic make-up after all, and something he was sure he would have done were he a Veela or not. He loved his son and he would protect and accept the person his son fell in love with. That it happened to be the Boy-Who-Lived was not really a concern anymore. His son had found his mate and his mate was worthy of him, that was all a Father could hope for his child.

Lucius watched the two men for a few seconds longer and then pulled his attention to the others in the room. He had to find out the facts first and he could kill afterwards. With consideration for the state that Harry was in, he called quietly for a house elf. He requested that the elf ask Professor Sinistra to come to the infirmary in regards to Harry and to take a short note to Malfoy Manor asking Narcissa to come to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. Giving Theodore, whom he knew only because his father was an 'associate' of his, a quelling look, Lucius watched as his son reveled in this chance to hold his mate. He remembered the first time he had held Narcissa in his arms, a feeling that only grew each time he did, with that in mind he quietly told Madam Pomfrey to remove the girl from the room, and he guided the other boy out as well.

When the door was closed Lucius turned to the younger Slytherin and asked him what had happened.

"I heard that Harry was in the infirmary and came to see hi-" Theodore was interrupted as Professor Sinistra came hurrying into the room.

The Professor didn't even acknowledge the young man or even Madam Pomfrey as she made a beeline straight to the older Veela. "What's wrong? Where's Harry?" The anxiety in her face and voice was very clear.

Lucius raised a hand in what he hoped was a calming manner but really only emphasized his noble upbringing he motioned to the young man standing beside him. "Mr. Potter is with my son, Professor Sinistra. I was just about to find out what the problem was when you came in. Mr. Nott, proceed."

With horror they listened to his story as he described the scene he had witnessed in entering the infirmary, and his subsequent actions. Theodore, although he had heard the change in the voice of the attacker, had not understood its meaning. But Lucius, to his horror, did. And he was reminded of the part he had played in that old affair. The Diary! The thrice dammed Diary! The youngest Weasley had been touched by that Evil...Oh Shialla! That part of his past had come back to bite him, something that he hoped wouldn't get in the way of helping his son and his mate. And now, Harry had paid the price for someone else's actions, once again. Would his friend ever forgive him? He hoped so, for his sake and the sake of his son, he sincerely hoped so.

Madam Pomfrey had arrived just in time to hear the end of the young mans speech and with a muttered curse she stormed over to the bed that held the youngest Weasley and snapped out, '_dormus_', before she had gotten close enough. Her aim was true though and with a twitch the girl on the bed fell into a not so natural sleep.

Lucius sighed in relief when Narcissa swept into the infirmary as regal and beautiful as ever. Using the sign language that all Malfoy's learned, Lucius waved her to silence. He could see her fury, though she didn't yet know what this was about, she instinctually knew it was about her son and his _Alona_. She nodded once in response to her husbands request for silence but conveyed to him with a glance that she would only be quiet for a few minutes.

Once things had been explained to Lucius' satisfaction, he and Narcissa went to explain things to Draco and restrain him from killing Ginny Weasley. The only reaction that passed the beautiful face of Narcissa Malfoy when she found out who her son's mate was, was a slight widening of her eyes. Lucius sighed silently, he had a lot of explaining to do once the two of them made it back to Malfoy Manor tonight. He knew that Narcissa was not yet satisfied with the explanation and that he would have to ease her fears when they were done consoling Draco and Harry.

They found the two boys sitting on the bed in the small room that seemed to be for Harry only. Draco had his arms wrapped tightly around the other man and was whispering in his ear. There were still tear tracks on his face but Lucius was relieved to see that it was the only indication of what he had been through. A slight shudder by the dark haired youth had him quickly changing that thought but he smiled when he heard his son whispering softly into Harry's ear. Shortly the shuddering ceased and Harry leaned heavily into Draco's side.

Things finally calmed down and the three adults, Lucius, Narcissa, and Sinistra quietly discussed the earlier events to the utmost embarrassment of a very disheveled Harry, who had withdrawn in embarrassment from the Veela's embrace. Draco stopped the instinctive reaction to pull his mate back in his arms and let the other boy lay back on the bed.

Lucius, ashamed for his role in this, quietly told Harry what Nott had told them he saw. He forced himself to meet the shocked, but surprisingly blameless, eyes of the young man before him. His son's mate didn't blame him, he thought in relief, it was more than he thought he deserved. He could feel the heated and questioning gaze of his son but a few finger movements let him know that they would talk later. Narcissa and Professor Sinistra fussed over Harry until he waved them away with a blush and a protest. Unfortunately for Draco, he did not return to his embrace but he did shoot him a quick glance.

That glance had Draco moving closer to Harry, though he refrained from reaching out and touching him again. It was too soon; he would let Harry come to him. He wanted Harry to do so willingly just as he had jumped into his arms, sobbing, earlier. When the adults left he quietly asked him how he was feeling. Harry ignored the question but did not back away, so he just kept up his commentary patiently, hoping that this would pull Harry out of his misery.

Harry was obviously ashamed and clearly did not want to talk to anybody and certainly not to Draco...not just yet. He kept his head down and tried to ignore Draco's soft voice. He felt dirty, embarrassed, and full of mistrust and fear. If the one he had called sister could do this to him, how could he believe anybody else's declarations of love? His whole body felt heavy with shame and a little bit of fear that now Draco wouldn't want him. Though Ginny had not achieved her objective, it had done its own damage. All his life he had thought he was worthless and she had almost succeeded in taking the one thing he had left-himself.

Harry let Draco's voice wash over him. Forcing himself, he pushed everything away except that soft voice and let it do what it wanted to do. Slowly, so slowly, it washed away his fear and shame. All that was left was Harry now, and he could but hope that it was enough. Without even realizing it he tipped gently into sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was hours later that Draco finally stopped talking though Harry had been asleep for quite sometime. Knowing that the other boy had fallen asleep listening to his voice had pleased the Veela in him. The reason he had kept talking, once he realized that Harry was asleep, was purely for his own benefit. Not only did it help him deal with his own fear and sense of unworthiness as a Veela that hadn't been able to keep his mate safe, it had had the added bonus of him "talking" his feelings and fears out. He knew there were going to be plenty of times that he would fear for the fool hardy Gryffindor and this time, the first time, was going to set a precedent for all the other times to come. And since he had a feeling it was going to be many, many, many times that he would have to do this it was a good thing he was setting the ground work now.

When Harry had been awake he had refrained from touching him but now he sat, hours later and still talking, holding his hand in both of his and them all tucked safely under his chin. Every minute or two he would lift their clasped hands to lay a gentle kiss onto Harry's knuckles but the hands were always returned quickly.

The others had left hours ago, his Father and Mother back to their rooms and Professor Sinistra had mentioned something about having a talk with the Headmaster. He'd rather she talk to him before he or his father got to him. Twinkling eyes or not, Draco was sure he could suss out the killing curse, well-maybe a _crucio _or two, on the first try. He really did not like that conniving loony old man and didn't trust him at all.

It was late in the night now, and both Harry and Draco had been sleeping badly before this night. Both had been tormented by nightmares. Harry would cry out whimpering, mumbling pleas, and Draco would immediately hold his hand tighter, whispering soothing words. Draco thought he was dreaming about Ginny's attack, but some of the words would make no sense...unless they referred to something else entirely, hinting at other attacks, other terrors. At one time, he even thought he heard his Father's name; but surely he had imagined it? Only when the exhausted Gryffindor would slump back on the pillow to resume his fitful sleep, would Draco be able to calm himself. But the madness at the edge of his mind felt once again too near while listening to his mate. It had been a long few weeks and an even longer day and night and Draco decided that he needed Harry to confide in him. It was the only way he could come to understand his _bedine_. And to be understood in return. Harry would refuse to open up initially, to disclose his inner devils, which he was sure was going to drive Draco batty. After the longest time he finally stopped talking and laid his head down on the bed by Harry's thigh, hands still clasped underneath his chin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco had woken only a few hours later with a crick in his neck and a hand slowly moving through his hair. He hadn't wanted to move but the pain in his back and neck was only getting worse.

"Don't stop." He whispered as he moved to angle his head better and still have it where the other boy could run his fingers through his hair. He was surprised that Harry was awake so soon. The day had been one emotion filled event after another. After a slight pause, the hand continued and Draco sighed in relief. Just this small amount of contact was enough to keep the Madness away and though it had been only a few hours it had been the best sleep he had gotten in weeks.

They had been sitting there like that for a while now. Draco was emotionally wrung out by the events up to now. The silence between them was heavy but neither wanted to be the first to talk. But if one of them didn't start talking soon, he was afraid he was going to lose it. He managed to barely control himself and, leaning forward, he gently guided Harry to look him in the eyes.

When Harry did nothing but look at him, Draco dropped his chin and whispered pleadingly, "talk to me, Harry! I am not asking for your acceptance right now, but you have to talk to me." He was desperate and he knew it was clear in his voice.

"I spend most of my time feeling awful and scared inside, Draco, what did you expect?" Harry said softly after a long tense moment finally giving in to his own need to talk. He had his head lowered and Draco thought it was in shame but after watching for a few seconds he could tell it was so that he couldn't see the depth of Harry's pain. He did the only thing that he could and that was to listen, after a few more minutes of silence Harry spoke again. "I grew up long before I came to this world, I wasn't given a choice. I used to sit and think about all this… mess for hours at a time, did you know?"

Harry continued after a second of silence. "There were never any clear answers though. Before I came here, I thought I must have done something pretty terrible to have had such an awful life so far. Only I can't think of what it was I could have done. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't think of a single thing. When I came here, for the first time in my life I discovered what friends were. I loved them just for that; you belittled the first precious thing I ever had and I hated you, just for that. And now the one I thought of as family betrays me, and you, the one I always thought of as my enemy offer me love. More questions and no answers!"

Draco waited a long while and then asked quietly, "did you figure anything out?"

Harry sighed and glanced at him quickly. The smile wasn't huge, and it never reached his eyes, but it warmed the Veela's heart to see it just the same. "Kind of. You might think it childish-"

Draco flinched but couldn't say anything in his defense. He had never treated Harry nicely. He motioned to Harry to continue when he hesitated and just barely managed to keep his calm façade in place.

Harry drew a ragged breath and tried to calm himself before starting to speak again. "I think that things happen and there isn't always a why to them. I had to accept them and move on with my life and spending a lot of time looking for reasons that weren't there was a waste of time and energy- something I didn't have a lot of." Harry shrugged as if the last six years of his life where nothing and having a Dark Lord after you was the same as having a hangnail-no trouble at all and easy to take care of.

"You believe that?"

"Absolutely."

"Is that why you seem much…older, this year?" The Veela asked because it was something that he'd noticed just in the few times he had had contact with the Gryffindor.

Harry sighed and then nodded, "possibly. When I was little and sitting in my cupboard I would wonder if I did something wrong and that is why my parents died. I know better now, but old habits are hard to shake, and some sense of that guilt still remains, and I don't seem able to shake it …"

Draco could feel his heart pound with emotion. He listened to what Harry was saying but never having had to experience it, he was left with trying to understand the other's hurt based on what he was hearing.

"You can't look at what you've lost, Harry, you need to look at what you have left. The ones you have lost, you loved, but there are ones left that love you. You are not alone, Harry. Now, if you accept, I am here. I will never hurt you intentionally, and any hurt that I inflict on you unintentionally will be made up to you with utmost care and love. I will never leave you by choice and I will fight with everything that is in me to get back to you if I am taken away from you. I don't know what more I can tell you that will make you believe that I am telling you the truth. _I will never leave you. I love you, Harry._"

Harry stared at Draco with wide eyes and open mouth, the startled look on his face was not really attractive but Draco still felt a thrill of satisfaction at seeing it. Harry closed his mouth with an audible snap, never had he thought that he would hear that said to him. He had resigned himself to living what was left of his life alone. It was a hard pill to swallow right now. The emotions of the last few days and the uncertainty of the future, combined to make him want his mask back. He wanted to feel indifferent again, or at least until he had some time to get used to all this Veela business. He knew that what Draco was saying did come from his heart. There was no way that he, being a Veela, could have said something like that to someone that was not his mate. Their instincts wouldn't let them.

Harry took a second to breathe deeply before responding. "I can't…right now I just…," he sighed again and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Damn it, I just need some time, Draco. What you just said…"

Harry had lowered his head, still blushing and missed the look of bleak dread flitting through Draco's eyes. _If he rejects me, what will I do?'_ He shuddered as a cackling laughter seemed to echo at the edge of his subconscious. But the Slytherin had had years of training in hiding his innermost feelings and ruthlessly drowned his fears, and the moment passed, unnoticed by Harry. With a deep breath in an attempt to cover his fear, Draco smiled sadly. "No regrets, Harry. I am glad that you are my _Alona_."

Harry gave him a weak smile in return, a smile that raised the Veela's hope. "Me too, actually."

"Really?" Draco brightened at that. It wasn't acceptance but it wasn't rejection either.

"I am not some helpless child though, Malfoy. I don't need taking care of." Steel had come into his voice and his gaze had sharpened. The old 'Harry' look was back. Draco reveled in it, even though it was directed towards him.

"I never thought that, Harry, not even when we first met." Draco sniffed haughtily and pointed his nose high in the air. He looked utterly ridiculous and he knew it. It was a calculated move that he was glad to see work when Harry shot him a shocked look and then snorted.

"Ah, yes, I remember that." Harry said with the first genuine smile of the night.

Draco chuckled, glad that the tense mood had been broken. "Me too. Merlin! I was such a brat!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at him and smirked, "was?"

Draco laughed. Harry watched as his eyes lit up and was glad that he could do that for him. The young Veela still had that sallow and sick look about him as less than 14 hours wasn't enough to make that go away. There was color in his cheeks now and someone had healed his lip so that it was now a dark pink color because that was its natural look and not because he had almost gnawed it off in his despair over looking for his mate. He had obviously showered and his hair was no longer hanging limp to his shoulders. Harry wasn't sure when he had stopped slicking it back but decided he liked this look on him.

"May I?" Draco said as he held out an envelope to the other boy.

"Umm, sure." Harry said as he took the envelope. He could feel Draco's eyes on him as he slowly opened it and withdrew the parchment from inside. It was a dark cream in color and heavy, it was obviously expensive. When Harry opened it he saw a poem done in calligraphy in a dark green ink. He read it slowly and then raised his eyes to look at the boy sitting across from him who was now blushing a becoming light pink color.

Draco smiled, "it is how I see you."

Harry frowned, confused, "I don't understand."

Draco blushed even brighter as he stood. His voice was eloquent, though soft, as he quoted.

_I looked and saw your eyes in the shadow of your hair  
As a traveller sees the stream in the shadow of the wood  
I looked and saw your heart in the shadow of your eyes  
As a seeker sees the gold in the shadow of the stream  
I looked and saw your love in the shadow of your heart  
As a diver sees the pearl in the shadow of the sea_

Harry was silent as Draco stopped speaking. He looked down to the parchment and then back up to Draco. It was his turn to blush.

"You are the shadow to me, Harry. All of my life I have been looking for you in the shadows, not my mate…you. I was looking for you before I knew I would need you."

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend whom you hate." Harry whispered so low he was sure the other couldn't hear it.

"What?"

"Nothing," Harry said as he waved his hand at him, "it was just something I read once."

"Oh."

"Draco…" Harry hesitated before continuing, "what now?"

"Now? Well now you decide whether you are going to accept the claim or not Harry."

"Simple, huh?" Harry's voice was full of his own special brand of dry humor.

Draco grinned at him but his only answer was a shrug.

"So, not going to attempt to make me?"

"No!" Draco was affronted and it showed. "Even if it would work, Harry, I wouldn't do that."

"I know, Malfoy." Harry placated, "I was kidding."

Draco snorted, "a Veela never kids about a claim, Potter."

Harry sighed, "no, I guess they wouldn't. I knew that. It was just getting…deep in here is all."

Before Draco could respond to that he was interrupted by the biggest yawn he had ever seen. Deciding to shelve that particular discussion for later he said instead, "I'm going to go now, Harry. Madam Pomfrey said you could leave in the morning. May I escort you back to your rooms?"

Harry blushed and nodded.

Draco walked to the door but before opening it he turned to Harry and leveled a piercing look at him. Harry shivered at all the look held and it was only because of how tired, mentally and physically, he was that kept him laying in the bed instead of pulling the Veela into an embrace that his body seemed to cry out for. He was a little shocked at the intense feelings though he had known previously that he was beginning to have feelings for Draco, he had not known that they would grow this fast and be this...heady.

"Tomorrow," Draco's voice had dropped into some kind of silky resonance that just flowed over every inch of Harry's body leaving goose bumps in its wake, "we will talk more."

Harry could do nothing but stare at the beautiful creature before him. Had Draco's voice ever done that before? He was positive that it had never effected him _that_ way before. He drew a deep breath, "I don't think-"

"Harry," Draco took a step back towards him and though his voice was still as silky and soft as before it now had a hardness running through it, "we will talk. I will not let you have this grow in your mind until you have nothing else to think about."

"Nothing happened, Draco."

Draco raised an eyebrow at him and Harry blushed. He had hoped that the Veela would not bring up the subject again. Harry crossed his arms and pouted, "fine."

Draco smiled sweetly at Harry but then ruined it with a smirk. "You will find it much easier to just give in on some things, Potter."

Harry snorted, "yeah, whatever, Malfoy."

They smiled at each other until Harry finally gave in with a sigh and a small nod, he would talk to Draco- tomorrow. It was comforting to know that he wanted to talk to him about it. With a flash of insight that left him momentarily breathless, Harry knew that it wouldn't take much for him to fall for the other boy, no, not much at all. And for the first time in a very long while, Harry couldn't wait for the next day to come.

With a small bow, Draco turned again to leave the infirmary to spend what was left of the night in his own room. He needed to be behind the ward and the locking charm his Father was sure to have placed on his door. The spikes would start back when he was out of his _Alona's_ presence after a while, he thought he had time to make it to his rooms before that happened though. Though he now knew who his mate was, his Veela side would not appreciate being separated from them. He was in for a long night but he held to the hope that it was going to be a bright morning.

Harry laid down, resting his tired head on his pillow, determined to sleep. Determined to ignore the echo of a feminine voice insanely hissing in his ear, a voice that reminded him so much of the deranged Dark Lord. He would not let him win! Never again. He shivered at the memory of the brutal actions of a once beloved friend. Gingerly he touched his neck, at the bite marks that had been healed and the blood that had been washed away but that he could somehow still feel there. No, he would not let her-him win! Or anyone that took from him ever again, that included the ones he thought of as his family.

To fight the tears that threatened, he turned his mind to warm silvery eyes that promised unconditional love and to strong loving arms that offered protection and safety. Would it be so bad to give in to that promise? Would that loving cage be any worse than the cage placed around him by a ruthless old wizard who thought nothing of handing a year old child to relations who despised, feared, and ultimately down-right hated him? If nothing else, his slow friendship with Lucius had taught him that the Malfoy's were nothing if not fiercely loyal to family. And was that not what he most craved? Could he, even though it was something he craved with a deep passion he had thought himself incapable of, give into Draco?

Sleep took him as he was still asking himself those questions. Perhaps the morning would bring counsel and new hope...perhaps. He smiled at the phantom feelings of a warm kiss, a sighing breath against his ear, and strong arms surrounding him. For the first time in a while, the smile stayed even after he succumbed to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_I looked and saw your eyes in the shadow of your hair  
As a traveller sees the stream in the shadow of the wood  
I looked and saw your heart in the shadow of your eyes  
As a seeker sees the gold in the shadow of the stream  
I looked and saw your love in the shadow of your heart  
As a diver sees the pearl in the shadow of the sea_

Dante Gabriele Rossetti (1884-1882) English Artist

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am reposting 'I Understand'. Thank you to all that kept at me, and you know who you are, to get back to writing it. The next chapter is an exciting one, Malombra and I have been working on this one for a long time and I can't wait to see ya'll's reaction to it.

I have a question- how many of you know what 'Parental Control' is on MTV? I might have an idea about something like that. I was at work and the ONLY thing on was a marathon of it! After a while it was hilarious!!!!! Let me know what you think….

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!!! Have you ever thought that something you did just wasn't turning out how you thought it should? Well, if you are breathing you have. That is how I felt about this chapter and one of the reasons it has been such a long time in coming. It took a threat of bodily harm from my good friend and BETA for me to post this. She threatened to find a way to come to the U.S.! Be gentle.

ENJOY!

LMG


	15. Chapter 15

**THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE.**

In the past few months my family and I have had to deal with multiple deaths. Unfortunately for me, I seem to be the one in the family that is able to deal with the things that need to be done better than most. It has not been easy.

I wanted to let everyone know that I have not given up on my writing. I plan on starting the next chapters for each of my stories soon and just wanted everyone to know that I am still here and will be back shortly.

Please be patient.

Thank you,

LMG


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you to ALL who read and review.

Thank you to my BETA's: Merlin, GoldenSunnyGrl, Malombra.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

**__**

Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.

MY STORY IS AU.

ENJOY!

****

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Harry woke with a jerk and an almost silent whimper. Almost silent because it was still loud in the stillness of his infirmary room. The terror that had woke him was quickly gone, not forgotten but certainly lessened once his eyes were open and staring up at the ceiling that Sin had thought of as a joke, but he knew he would not be going back to sleep anytime soon. Besides, he had gotten at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep, something that was unusual for him. With a sigh and a whispered _tempus _he saw it was just after four in the morning. Yup, three hours. He felt refreshed and calmer than he thought he would after the events of last night.

__

'Must be the bond', he thought as he slowly got up from his bed. Deciding a run was out of the question he took care of his morning ablutions and then settled into the seat at the window, the bay window was a feature Madam Pomfrey had added to his room when he had had to stay in it for a week in second year. Sin had asked her and they had both surprised him withit when he had come back in third year. Of course, he had had to take a lot of ribbing from his friends on getting his own room in the infirmary but it had actually been a good thing. He had spent almost as much time in here as he had in the Gryffindor dorm. He had pouted about it but a look from Sin and he had let the matter drop.

With a wave of his hand his CD player flew through the air and landed beside him. He quickly set it by magic to start to play and then set it to playing without the head phones. He relaxed as Beethoven's _Rondo Allegretto moderato Prestissimo _started to play softly. As he listened to one of his favorite pieces he watched the last star fade as the sun slowly rose bringing with it a soft golden light that not only lightened the area outside but the darkness that had been dwelling inside his heart as well.

Though he did not want to think about the events of yesterday or the hell that he just knew was going to come from those events today. But there was no way that he could keep them from running through his mind, over and over until his head felt like it had suddenly been stuffed with cotton and he was very, very dizzy. He was suddenly overcome with a feeling of stillness which he recognized as a spike, but, of a kind he had never experienced before. He breathed slowly and deeply, knowing, he did not quite know how, that he was standing on the cusp of 'something'. Something that might define who he was to become. '_No_,' he thought with an inward smile, '_who _we_ would become_.' Thinking that he was not as scared to stand there and be ready to fall and knowing that he would be caught and loved and…well, _everything_.

Because he now knew that this had something to do with Draco and the Veela Bond and because of that feeling he knew he needed to start thinking of them as _we, us, couple_. There was no more _I, me, _or _alone_. He honestly didn't know what to think about a lot of this so far- so- he decided to think about something else, or at least try to. He prayed to every deity ever brought into being by wish or desire, that this bond was going to give him what he so desperately needed. A family. A life. And a love to end all of his pain and suffering. **If** he was willing and able to take that step that would give it all to him. His past experiences were going to be hard to overcome it would be difficult to let himself go enough to be able to take that one step.

With a gentle smile on his lips, he watched as the sun crested the hill outside Hogwarts. He knew that just as that ball of light was pushing away the last of the dark night; it was also pushing away his fears and his own dark past and giving way to a future that might be just as bright. His mind's eye saw he and Draco standing a step away from each other. Draco's hand was outstretched toward him and Harry was breathless at the look of love in his eyes and the smirk/smile on his face. All Harry had to do was take that step and grasp the others hand in his.

Could he- would he- be able? God, he hoped so!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Vince watched from his place guarding the Gryffindor's room as the still shoulders of his best friend's mate slowly released their tension. The spell that let him see through the wall was not one that was clear enough to see his expression but he was very good at reading body language. He didn't know what the other man was thinking but he knew they were not thoughts that would lead him down the wrong path. How Vince was capable of doing this was hard to say, it was just something he was good at. Why he should be able to read the Gryffindor's emotions so easily baffled him, since he had never been able to do so before.

'_It had to be the bond_' he thought with a smile. He was one of Draco's best friends and that caused a bond between them all. Granted the bond between him and Blaise was stronger than what they each had with Draco but it was still strong enough to help him with the Veela's mate. Once again Vince was glad that they had found Draco's mate and positive that it was the best choice for him.

With a satisfied nod he stepped back into the alcove opposite Harry's door. He still watched but not as intently as before. His orders, from Lord Malfoy, had been to watch and only show himself if there was danger. He felt confident that no danger existed at this moment; he also didn't want to get caught looking at him this closely. Draco had been a jealous and possessive child with things he considered exclusively his own and Vince knew it would be 100 times worse where his mate was concerned. Especially, with a mate that had as many issues, physical AND mental, as Harry Potter did.

'_It's going to be great_,' he thought with a grin, '_probably terrifying, sometimes funny, but definitely great_.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione watched as the figure of the big Slytherin stepped back from Harry's door with a chuckle. She was keeping her thoughts to herself but she knew that he was not there to hurt Harry but to protect her best friend if a situation arose where protection was needed. She was glad for that. Harry had pushed everyone away but now he couldn't do that anymore. She prayed that this situation with the young Veela would also let her and Ron back into Harry's life. She had missed him so much.

Draco would move Heaven and Earth to keep his _Alona_ safe. Hermione wondered if Harry knew what was in store for him. With a smile she turned and silently left the hallway in front of the infirmary. Harry was safe and with that knowledge she was able to finally get some much needed rest.

__

'I can't wait to see what happens next,' she thought with a wicked grin as she walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco woke with a sob that hurt his throat as he tried to contain it. Harry's fear had made it past his warded bedroom and threw a spike of feeling straight to his brain by way of his heart. Veela lore stated that the heart of an unmated Veela would not beat correctly until its mate had been found. Then, in the first days of their meeting, the Veela's heart would beat erratically until finally it would settle into the same rhythm as its mate's heartbeat. No one had ever told him how weird it would feel. His heart was literally _rolling _in his chest.

With a sigh, he rose from his bed and made his way to his private bathroom. Despite the short amount of time he had been asleep he felt refreshed. Determined to not look this gift horse in the mouth he started a shower, called for a Malfoy house elf to go to the Manor to get his 'special products', and prepared to spend a very long time pampering himself with everything his search for his mate had made him neglect. Once Tippy returned to him they set about subjecting his body to the most intensive spa treatment he had ever gone through.

Draco's Father was waiting for him when he finally stepped from his bathroom, many hours later. It had been worth it though. It had been a long time since he had felt this good, and, he knew he looked good too. His hair was shimmering with renewed colour, his face and skin glowed with health once again, and his black robe with a silver flame around the sleeves complimented his station and his looks. He looked like a Veela Prince and he finally _felt _like a Veela Prince.

With a raised eyebrow his Father drawled, "I am surprised your 'preferences' had not been more apparent to me before this."

"Hush Father," Draco grinned at him and raised his own eyebrow back. "I was not even aware of my 'preferences' as you call it, but now that I am there is no way to deny them."

"Your mother tried to prepare me for this you know?"

"No, I didn't. When?"

"I believe you were six and you didn't want to start Quidditch practices because you would get all sweaty."

Draco stared at his Father in horror. "I did not."

"Oh, yes, you most certainly did. The tantrum you threw will live in infamy at Quality Quidditch Supplies as the worst ever. But not for the normal reason. Most young boys your age were angry because their parents wouldn't buy them a broom. You were livid because I _wanted _too."

Draco was silent for a few shocked seconds before saying finally, a note of petulance creeping into his voice as he crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip childishly. "I was only six!"

Lord Malfoy smirked at his son and nodded. "Can you guess when your obsession with Quidditch began?"

Draco started to shake his head no before he paused to really think. His face flared red before he sighed and said softly, hopefully in denial but it was clear he didn't believe it himself, "no."

"Oh, yes. You came home after that first year and demanded the best trainer money could buy. I don't believe you took a day off from practicing that whole summer."

"Shit!" Draco muttered.

"Language, Draco, though it does clear up quite a lot of questions now, doesn't it?" Draco scowled at the laughter in his Father's voice. He didn't have to think it was THAT funny!

"Leave him alone, Lucius," came the soft voice of his Mother from the open door that neither man had heard open.

"Mum!" Draco cried happily before making his way over to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek and a welcoming hug.

"Now," Narcissa pulled away after a brief tightening of her arms and a gentle kiss to her beloved son's cheek, her tone and mood were now all business, "what do we have planned for Ms. Weasley?"

"I have a suggestion…" Pansy's clear voice came from the hallway. The Malfoy's turned to face her and saw her standing with Blaise, Greg, and surprisingly, Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley. "It's time to call for a Student Court."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sin knocked on Harry's door and waited for him to let her in, before he did though she turned to the alcove where she knew a guard would have been stationed. "You may go now. I will stay with him until The Malfoy's arrive."

She wasn't surprised to see the bigger of the two Slytherin boys that guarded the young Veela Lord step out of the shadows. With a nod in her direction he made to speak but before he could say anything the door opened.

Vince quickly moved back, not knowing how the Gryffindor would react to seeing him standing there. He could hear the faint strains of classical music coming from the room but he didn't recognize the song.

Reaching down to lift the breakfast tray she had had Dobby get her, she said quietly before the door closed behind her, "thank you, Mr. Crabbe."

The second the door was closed she saw Harry's cheerful façade vanish and she wisely said nothing but asked instead, "hungry, Harry?"

"Not particularly." Harry replied as he walked back over to the window to stand looking out, body tensed, arms crossed and face blank.

"Too bad." She came back cheerfully in direct contrast to his emotionless tone.

Harry snorted and threw her a 'you have got to be kidding' look.

"Now." With that one word Harry sighed and wisely turned to go to the small table in the corner of his room. It was their tradition to spend breakfast together whenever he was in the infirmary and since he had his own room that should be a hint as to how often that was. '_At least she brought my favorite, waffles, instead of the tasteless porridge she brought last time,'_ Harry thought. She had been angry with him, again, because a pretty straightforward mission had gotten him shot. Shot! Harry had known what the young wizard had had in his hand the second he had reached for it. His partner had not. He had instinctively pushed the older man out of the way and tried to roll so he would be missed as well but it had not worked. So, of course, he had been hit.

It was a side wound, barley a graze he tried to protest, but it had hurt like a bitch and Madam Pomfrey and Sin were so mad at him that he thought they were going to refuse to heal him. When he wouldn't tell them how he had gotten shot, Madam Pomfrey had poured a blood replenishing potion, a pain potion, and half a vial of dreamless sleep potion down his throat before he could protest. Ten minutes later he was unconscious and when he woke up he had a nice scar on his side to go with all the others. Sometimes he got the distinct impression that he had a scar only because he had pissed them both off.

He had thought it funny; it was in the shape of a star. That was until he got the howler from his partner. In retaliation he had pulled the memory out and sent it to him, making sure to add how much it had hurt. He had laughed out loud at the one word reply of 'FINE' that he had received in return, even with that one word Harry heard the familiar arrogance and surprisingly the acceptance of his actions.

"Harry?" Aurora's voice was soft but loud enough she knew it would pull him from his thoughts. With a smile of apology to each other they set about eating breakfast and trying to come up with a plan to deal with the events of yesterday. She was sure that the young Slytherin would already have his family and friends taking care of that. She even thought she knew what they would do. They hadn't had a Student Court in 50 years. It was about time that particular Wizarding tradition was brought back into the public eye.

__

'I just hope both of them are strong enough for what is to come in the next day or two,' she thought as she sipped her tea and sat back to wait on her young charge to start talking. __

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After everyone was settled in the small sitting room that was a part of the Malfoy Suite in Hogwarts there was a tense silence. Each of them knew why they were there -for Harry- and to make sure that justice was seen in this awful turn of events. Notably missing was the Slytherin's Head of House (who had not been invited), the Headmaster (who needed to be seen as above the planning), Vincent Crabbe (who was guarding Harry) and Professor Sinistra (who was with Harry at this moment).

The Headmaster knew what Hermione and Pansy were going to suggest as a whispered word in the Head Girl's ear early this morning had her dragging the resident know-it-all to the Library for research. They were surprised to see Ron Weasley already there but Hermione had just given him a loving kiss on the cheek and sat down to get to work. By the time they had found what they needed it was way after breakfast. Pansy had assured the two Gryffindors that Draco was probably just now getting out of the bathroom as the unlikely group made there way to his rooms.

Ron had been reluctant to go with them but they had just dragged him along anyway. Now, as they all gave each other contemplating looks, he knew it was right for him to come. "Malfoy…Draco?" Ron started after everyone had settled into chairs.

Draco shot him a startled look and raised one eyebrow in question.

"Look…" Ron paused before throwing a quick look at Hermione. When his girlfriend said nothing and just returned his look he drew a deep breath before he continued. He tried to make his voice as formal as possible as he stood back up and bowed to the stunned Veela Prince, his family, and his friends. "On behalf of the Weasley family, I would like to formally ask for your acceptance of our deepest apologies for the harm caused to your mate by a member of our family."

Not a sound was heard and for once surprise was shown on everyone's face there but his. "On a less formal note and completely personal…Harry…he's my best mate, but he is as stubborn as a mule, as hard headed as a goblin, but as loving as a unicorn. Win his heart and you can have the world. Hurt him and I will hunt you down and dismember you inch by inch until there is nothing left of you." By the end of his speech his voice was hard and unyielding which gave the impression to the listeners that he was completely serious.

"You honour the Weasley name, sir. And, on behalf of the Malfoys, I accept the apology set forth by the Weasley family, formally and informally." Surprisingly it was Narcissa who replied, as both her husband and son were still too stunned to return the courtesy.

With another bow to finish the impromptu rite, Ron sat down with a lighter heart. Harry would be protected and loved, he was certain of it. If he was wrong he was glad he had spent a few hours last night looking up some very interesting curses. He felt Hermione's hand slip into his as she started to talk.

"A Student Court is our best option. For one, the attack happened here. Second, it involved a very serious charge of attempted rape that was witnessed by another student. Third, Harry shouldn't leave Hogwarts right now. And lastly, Student Court is a legally recognized proceeding and the decision here will be held up in any court in the world."

Pansy took up the explanation that she and Hermione had thought up just an hour ago. "I am Head Girl and Terry Boot is Head Boy. Unfortunately, I can not sit in judgment due to my closeness to Draco. Hermione can not take my place because of her closeness to Harry. Since I am Head Girl I am allowed to pick my replacement from the prefects of any House. We have decided on Susan Bones."

"Perfect." Greg laughed. Everyone knew that Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was Susan Bones' aunt and a great friend and staunch supporter of Harry Potter.

"We have to move fast." Lord Malfoy said. He had been quiet until now because he had wanted to see if Harry's trust, or what trust he did give, was well placed. He was pleased to see that it was.

"We can send the appropriate messages out and we are positive once everyone is informed no one will decline to participate." Pansy inclined her head in acknowledgment at the unspoken sentiment in the older Malfoy's voice.

Lord Malfoy quirked an eyebrow back at her and then just stated more clearly what he had meant in the first place. "I mean move fast to start proceedings before the Ministry finds out and tries to stop you."

"I umm…" Ron said sheepishly, "I already did that. I owled my Dad, he'll take care of the Ministry side."

"And your sister?" Draco asked sharply.

Ron was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "Ginny is…no longer a Weasley." Once again he had surprised the Slytherin's. "The family vote was unanimous. Mum searched her room. What she found confirmed our worse fears. She was very…disturbed. She had, well, let's just say that she fancied herself in love with Harry and nothing was going to stand in her way. She is my sister but even that can not overcome what she has done. She had the diary." Ron noticed the only one that reacted to that statement was Hermione and the elder Malfoy.

The two men looked each other in the eye and Ron noticed the hidden guilt there. If this got out and Draco found out then it could potentially hurt his son's chances to win his mate. Ron nodded once to Lord Malfoy before continuing to let him know he would never tell his son. "I am positive that she will try something else. We need to make sure that Harry is safe."

Draco nodded before turning to his Father. "Let's write the messages and get them sent out. I want…," here he paused as an unreadable emotion passed over his face and he drew in a sharp breath. "Can you do that so that I can go to the infirmary and check on Harry?" It was clear he was trying very hard to hide the anxiety in his voice and his shaking hands but that kind of intense feelings were always hard to hide in a Veela that had found its mate but had yet to bond with them.

Pansy started hesitantly, "Draco, it would look better if you wrote the messages yourself. As the Veela you have that right. You only need four yeses to proceed. Anyone who does not want to adjoin the Court can decline or sit in judgment. You are Harry's mate, Draco, show him that. And show the world it can not mess with either of you or the consequences would be great."

"I don't bloody care about the world." Draco snarled, his voice was very cold and the outside edges of his body seemed to fade out a little, a clear indication of the Veela in him trying to take control. His eyes flashed liked lightening and his hands curled into tight fists on the arms of his chair.

"We know, Draco."

"Fine," Draco huffed in annoyance, "bring me some parchment. The faster I get done the faster I can see Harry."

Everyone chuckled but moved to do what was necessary. This wasn't a Veela Court but Draco was also a Wizard and Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived. If needed, the Malfoy's would take the complaint to a full Veela Court but Draco didn't think that they would need to do that. The Student Court could legally strip Ginny Weasley of her magic if she was found guilty. Draco preferred death. She had touched his mate. She had kissed him! She had hurt his mate so deeply that he had lost a sense of himself! Yes, death would be merciful. He planned on pain, lots and lots of pain.

While he wrote out the messages he could hear the others talking quietly. Hermione and Ron came closer to him but they were whispering to each other and he couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Just tell him!" Hermione hissed and Draco's head jerked up at that.

"Tell me what?" He was slightly confused. Except for the last hour he hadn't had a decent conversation with either of them and he had no clue what else they needed to tell him.

Hermione bit her lip and then gave him a small smile. "We would like to talk to you about Harry before you go."

Draco scowled; he really wanted to see his mate. But he also couldn't pass up the chance to learn more about him either. He gestured for them to sit and then waited patiently, well, as patiently as he could. It included a lot of sneers and finger tapping but it was patience.

Ron sighed and leaned forward with his arms braced on his legs and a look of concentration on his face. Hermione patted him on the arm and then looked back to Draco.

"Harry does not know that we know he is gay." Draco started at that. The thought of his mate's preferences had never crossed his mind and he hadn't known how relieved that information made him. Hermione grinned and then continued, "he really hasn't had any opportunities either."

It took a second for Draco to realize what she meant. His mate was a virgin! The smile that crossed his face was not one that a virgin, though he was one himself, should have. "Really?"

Hermione nodded. "Until he was eleven years old he grew up in a very restrictive Muggle environment. Gay was a dirty word there, and Harry was perforce influenced by his relatives' opinion on the matter. It wasn't until after his Uncle's death that he received his first hug from his Aunt." Hermione sighed sadly before continuing, "he is afraid of our reactions; of anybody's reaction! With you he is confused, because he is attracted by the whole package of being a Veela's mate and what it has to offer. The love and warmth he has never had…but at the same time you are a boy and…if you have been taught since you can remember to believe certain things, it is very difficult to accept that they were wrong. When he came here he felt that he could finally be Harry. But that wasn't to be the case; he had to be the Boy-Who-Lived. And since then he has always been conscious of the fact that if he attempted a relationship in our world that he couldn't guarantee that they were with him for him or for his fame."

Draco nodded as it made perfect sense to him. He had had the same thoughts as well. Would his mate want him for his own sake or because he was a Veela? And all magical creatures grew up with stories of the wonders of being a Veela's mate! When he found out his mate was Harry one of the first thoughts that he had had was that he was glad it was someone who would understand his position in his world and in the Wizard world.

Ron snorted but stopped at the quelling look from his girlfriend. He sounded reluctant to say what he was about to say but speak he did. "He was always conscious that if he had any relationships in our world, he would always doubt it would be for his sake alone. That damn Muggle Uncle of his always told him he was worth less than nothing. That he was a freak and that nobody would ever love him. If he weren't already dead I am sure the Veela in you would search him out to kill him. Harry knows now that he was exceptionally cruel…yet, ingrained beliefs are hard to be rid of. Harry has still, deep down, a very low opinion of himself. The relationship he has now with his Aunt and Dudley, his cousin, has helped him overcome some of those insecurities."

Both Hermione and Ron knew that they were telling things about Harry's life that he probably did not want anyone to know about but they had talked and had decided that if they could help Draco understand a little bit about Harry before he sat down to really talk to him that the acceptance would go a lot smoother. And what everyone in this room wanted was for Harry to accept Draco's Veela claim with as little problems as possible.

Draco's voice was small and wavering when he next spoke after a few minutes of tense silence. A sense of foreboding washed through the young Veela as he forced himself to speak from now cold and trembling lips, "you keep saying 'our world'. Does that mean he has had a relationship in the Muggle world?"

Both Hermione and Ron hesitated but when they saw the growing panic on the other boy's face they rushed to reassure him. "No!"

Hermione stopped Ron from speaking with a pointed look, got down on her knees beside Draco's chair, and held a shaking hand in her own. "I will not lie to you Draco. He did try-" Hermione was interrupted by the painful cry from the now shaking Veela.

Those three words made it feel as if Draco's life had come crashing down. The burning acid of jealousy swamped him. Harry! His Harry had looked to someone else for love! He felt betrayed! He felt helpless, a failure. He had no control over his now shaking body and his heart, that was suppose to beat in tune with his mate's, turned over and hurt so badly that Draco was sure it was going to stop. The sense of wrongness was back in full force.

For a Veela, just the thought that someone else had touched their mate gave them a sense of unworthiness. Added to the events of last night and not being able to protect his _bedine_, the feelings grew so quickly and so strongly that Draco could not handle them. He knew, logically, that just because Harry was his mate didn't mean that he couldn't have been with someone else. But panic always overrode logic.

Hermione saw, out of the corner of her eye, Mrs. Malfoy rush over to hug her son and start to rock him all the while whispering soft calming words. Draco's sobs were hard to hear for anyone in that room. It actually gave testament to the Veela's commitment to his undeclared mate that he was so quickly overcome. No one looked away, though they all knew that when Draco recovered, the Slytherin in him would not appreciate them all seeing him like this. But the Veela's emotions were paramount and Draco had no choice but to hang on for the ride.

It was Lord Malfoy that was able to calm his son. Though his mouth was set in a tight line his words were said in a soft, calm tone. "Draco…son, nothing happened."

Blaise shook her head; a Veela in this state would not be brought back by a few words, "how do you know?"

The older Veela sighed. "I have been working with him for a while now. Believe me son, nothing happened. I came to know him quite well, and in a moment of weakness he confided in me, about his attempt at a relationship with a Muggle, and of how it failed miserably. He was quite upset that he could not seem to manage any kind of rapport; he felt he was lacking in some ways. But we do know now why that was, don't we, my Draco? Nothing happened. Because nothing could happen!"

Pansy knelt beside Hermione and took Draco's other hand. "Please Draco. Listen to us. Harry is still yours. He is free. Please, calm down, we can beat this. You can beat this."

Over and over again soft words were spoken until the crying finally slowed and Draco had himself under control again, it took a very long time.

Draco's human side knew, logically, that just because Harry was his mate didn't mean that he couldn't have been with someone else. But the Veela in him couldn't even think it, let alone hear it. Sitting there hearing that Harry might had been with someone else had been enough to bring back all of his earlier helplessness. A Veela's mate was for a Veela! No one else. Ever. But Harry had another life in the Muggle world, a life that Draco didn't know about, had never seen. All these thoughts had run through his head as the feelings grew to such heights it made him dizzy Draco forced himself to speak from now cold and trembling lips.

"I am s...sorry. I..." Draco tried to apologize to everyone but they all brushed it off. Each of them could see what he had just gone through but only his Father, a Veela himself, could really understand. That Draco, a proud Slytherin, had broken down in front of two of the people he had considered enemies just two days ago gave evidence to how bad off he really had been. If he had been in his right mind this would never had happened but the Veela in him was at the front of his consciousness and that part of him had just heard that his mate, his _bedine, _had been with someone else. Giving his mind frame of the moment it took him longer to absorb and understand what his Father had just said.

Draco lifted his tear stained face to his Father. His voice was a little harsh but from the crying and not the anger. Still, jealousy and suspicion lingered. "Working?"

The older Veela could have gotten angry at the tone of his son's voice but he didn't. "I am his partner." Lucius was going to leave it at that but then figured a little bit more explanation would not hurt. "He helped me when Toshiri was captured."

"Toshiri?" Ron asked sharply. The name sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. Draco and Mrs. Malfoy, along with his friends, were already nodding in understanding. Hermione leaned over and whispered in Ron's ear and then he added his own nod to the group.

The smooth aristocratic tones got on Ron's nerves but he said nothing about it as the older Veela continued. "Toshiri is a Prince of the Air Clan. He was captured by Greyback last year. I had no one to turn to so, in desperation, I contacted Mr. Potter. He helped me…gain his release and got shot in the process." The second he said that he knew it was the wrong thing to say.

The younger Veela roared and tried to attack his Father when he heard about the injury to his _Alona._

"Draco, stop!" The commanding voice of his Mother was the only thing that held him in his chair. Hermione and Pansy had scrambled away so that they didn't get hurt. The only sound in the room was the harsh breathing and a not-so-quite- sob from the shaking boy in the chair.

Lucius knelt by his son's chair and drew him into his arms. He didn't care that he had just shattered the Malfoy Image of Aloofness; his son needed him and one thing everyone knew about Veela's was that Family came first, always- of course, that brings up the question of 'What the hell was he thinking by taking sides with Voldemort?- but no one mentioned that. His words were disjointed and had none of his usual elegance. "He was fine. It happened sometime back. He and I have been partners since then. We worked well together and decided that from time to time we could help each other. I would never have let him be seriously hurt even before I knew he was your _Alona._ I have a great deal of respect for that young man, my Son. You must come to accept that part of him or you may well lose him. He is Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, and he will be that for the rest of his life. He must fight the good fight, it is what makes him who and what he is and you will not be able to stop him." Lucius drew back and looked deep into his sons tear and pain filled eyes. "You have to accept him too Draco…**_all_** of him."

Hermione saw the understanding finally cross the young Veela's face before she said with a voice that was warm and caring, though she was still on the floor a few feet away from him, she was no longer afraid of him either. "He will love you Draco, take my word for it." The others backed away again as it was clear that the two Gryffindors had something else to say to the Slytherin Prince.

Draco nodded and the tense look that had been growing around his eyes eased. Hearing her say that gave the Veela in him a chance to start to calm down. That side of him had reared up at the delay but now he was glad that they cared enough about their best friend to help him, Draco, someone they hated. Ron hissing at his girlfriend brought him out of his thoughts of all the harm done to his _hayana_. He had been getting better since he had found his mate but sometimes he still found his thoughts wandering and this was one time that he felt justified about it too. "What?"

Hermione turned to Ron and said loudly and clearly, "if you want him to know then you tell him Ron Weasley and stop hissing at me."

Of course that made everyone in the room turn back to them to see what else was going on. No one said anything though. Draco didn't want to wait any longer so he sneered at the red-headed Gryffindor sitting in front of him. "What do you need to tell me of my mate, Weasley?"

Ron threw him a dirty look but at a jab in his side from Hermione's elbow he finally relented. "Harry…he's powerful. He's strong physically and mentally. But when it comes to _his _feelings, his _reasonings,_ he's-" Ron drew a hand through his hair, "he's like a stone statue. There is nothing there."

Draco was confused, again. Was he saying there was something wrong with his mate? He honestly did not think he could handle anything else. For the first time that anyone in the room could recall Draco reached out and laid a hand on Ronald Weasley, his long time enemy, without hatred or anger and he whispered brokenly, "please tell me."

Ron nodded. His voice was low making the others in the room come nearer. They didn't know if they should hear this but all of them knew if it was something that would help them win Harry for Draco that they needed to know. "He wants****so much to be held that when the chance comes up - he pushes it away. He **_wants_** so much that he has trained himself to _not _want at all. Merlin! I am not saying this right."

Ron sighed as he stared off into a corner of the room. No one said anything as he tried to get his thoughts in order. If anyone knew Harry, it was he.

"He is so powerful that he feels powerless. That is a downfall of any man no matter their _wants_. He is the strongest person I know and yet as brittle as thin glass. He has the strongest set of morals of anyone I have ever met or even heard of, yet, he is still a child in most matters…and can still be hurt." Lord Malfoy's tone was quiet and filled with a dignity that served his station in life but underneath it all was also a tone of hurt for one he knew was in pain but for whom he had no help to give.

"Right now…" Draco said with a small smile, "he's…okay."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked.

"I can feel him." Draco said with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Not possible." Blaise said with a sharp look.

"As we have just established - he is powerful." Draco's eyes flashed and the wicked smile that graced his lips was in direct contrast to the gentle blush spreading across his cheeks.

"Draco!" Mrs. Malfoy said softly in admonishment but her lips were quirking in a smile of her own.

"I tell you it is not possible!" Blaise snapped.

"Why not?" Greg demanded. He didn't understand what Blaise's problem was. So Draco could feel his mate, big deal.

"Because, besides the natural dungeon wards for Hogwarts you have the Slytherin wards, the Malfoy wards, the Veela wards, and **_two_** overlapping **EMPATHIC** wards!"

Hermione gasped.

"As I said - not possible." Blaise jumped up and walked around the room muttering a long string of Latin. Only the Malfoy's and Hermione understood what she was doing. She stopped as she came full circle and looked back to Draco. "You can feel him?" She whispered in awe.

Draco smiled so beautifully and full of emotion he no longer had to suppress that it made all of the others in the room wish that his smile had been directed towards them even, strangely, his parents. "Oh, yes."

"Now…" he held a hand out impatiently for the papers that Greg now held, after a few minutes of tense silence where everyone processed what he had just said. "Give!"

The laughter was surprisingly light and friendly considering who was in the room and why they were all there. It bode well for the development of the fledgling friendship in the coming days. He quickly finished filling out the parchments not really paying attention to whom he was writing. He just automatically wrote what was dictated to him. Then he dropped his quill and immediately left the room taking no notice of the laughter that still made the rounds of the room. At first he did not even acknowledge Weasley-Ron- who was walking beside him.

Half-way to the infirmary Draco stopped and it took Ron a few seconds to realize it before he too stopped and turned to face the once again shaking Veela. Draco was again pale and sweaty, they really had kept him away from Harry for too long, he looked pitiful. Ron never thought he would feel sorry for the Slytherin who had made his school life hell for the last six years but he did now. Of course the words that came out of said shaking individual made him forget his pity and jump straight back to an instinctive resentment.

"Weasley, will you mind to terribly much if I killed your sister?"

Ron stared at him angrily, ready to attack at the unmitigated gall of the boy before him, with one of his well known poisonous retorts but stopped just in time when he realized that Ginny's fate was no longer his concern. It hurt because he was closer to her than to any of his brothers. But what she had done! Merlin! How could he condone that? And Malfoy had, after all, asked for permission! There was a joke in there he just knew it, he was sure the twins would see the humour in it some where.

He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "it is your right as a Veela, but do bear in mind that Harry would **never**,** ever** forgive you! No matter what the provocation, you do not want to face Harry's wrath. She may have done him harm, but Harry will always see her as his 'little sister' and no one touches what Harry considers his family. I know that Veela's hold Family as paramount, but you do not know just how starved for affection Harry's life has been. You should have been there when he first came to the Burrow, in the summer he turned eleven." Ron drew a deep breath. Though he could not stand what Ginny had done to Harry, she was still his sister and she still had a place in his heart that had not yet hardened against her. "Harry expected to be ordered about and treated as a house-elf, for he was used to being treated that way. When he realized that he would be accepted as a beloved member of the family, you could have touched his gratitude with your bare hands. It was heartbreaking, and I was eleven and really didn't understand what was going on! No, he would not forgive you any harm to a member of his 'Family'. If you want Harry's love you will keep that thought always in the forefront of your mind. It is that important!"

Draco stared at the young man before him. Ron Weasley had never been an elegant speaker but these words came from the deepest part of his being and it showed. "My Mother is right, Ron. You have done your Family proud. I thank you for your support from my very soul. You have shown that you clearly know Harry and not just the image and for that I thank you."

Ron grinned, a very relieved grin, "good! Let's drop this seriousness and leave it to the others." He held out his hand, "to Harry."

Draco glanced at the hand and without hesitation reached out to grab it with a sharp nod. "To Harry."

When Draco lifted his hand and reached for Ron's he saw something that immediately drew his attention. If he wasn't mistaken wrapped around the freckled, muscular wrist of his once enemy was a thick silver bracelet. One that looked remarkably like one he had seen on Hermione's smaller wrist earlier when she had grabbed his arm and one he _knew _he had seen adorn Harry's wrist just last night. And since he knew he wasn't mistaken about what they were, his Veela side quickly rose up with a low growl and a harsh wrench. The humor faded from his tone and expression so quick the other boy didn't stand a chance to get away.

In seconds Ron Weasley was kneeling in front of the enraged Veela- his arm up and around in an obviously vulnerable position- a wand at his throat.

"Malfoy! What-" Ron managed to squeak out. He didn't move, didn't breathe, as he struggled with the instinctive reaction to strike back.

Draco snarled down at the helpless boy, just barely managing to be understood as his voice was thick with rage, "You have a bond bracelet on? Harry has one too! You tell me right now what the hell is going on Weasley or you will not live another ten minutes!"

Ron gulped and drew a shaky breath as he tried to calm himself and the Veela before he did something he would regret later. Or that Ron hoped he would regret later. Veela or not this was still Malfoy, and a Slytherin, no matter what his instincts were telling him to do. Ron knew he was doing it because he was afraid that someone had gotten to his mate first. Ron understood what was happening. Unfortunately for him, in the unfamiliar submissive position he was in, it didn't help.

"Fifth year." Ron stuttered out quickly. "We did a bond- a blood bond. It was the only way we could think of to save him."

"We?"

"Hermione and I."

"Save him from what?" The question was asked quietly and slowly as if he knew, and dreaded, the answer.

"Killing himself."

Those two words froze the young Veela in shock. Ron stared up at him from the floor not knowing what was going to happen next.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ginny's eyes snapped open as she tried to move. She snarled in rage as the realization hit her that she couldn't. She was tied down. Why? Then she remembered her attempt to get Harry last night and that her last memory had been of flying through the air and hitting the wall. Her vision went red and her whole body flushed as she remembered the feel of Harry's body underneath her own. But she had failed! She couldn't fail. She had to get to Harry before that abomination did.

She whispered the word to change her bracelet back into her spare wand. She had searched for a long time for that spell. Once the wand was in her hand she freed herself and stalked towards the door.

Harry was hers and no Veela bitch was going to take him away!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The explosion that rocked Hogwarts was felt from the Quidditch Pitch to Hogsmead and from the tallest Tower to the lowest Dungeon.

The silence that followed was surprisingly loud in its wake.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am reposting 'I Understand'. Thank you to all that kept at me, and you know who you are, to get back to writing it.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. It has been a rough few months. I don't think that I have ever been this far between posts, it has never taken me so long. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to leave me a post about it, good and bad.

I am sorry about the wait for this chapter and thank you for your patience.

Mate: alona, bedine, and hayana

For those of you that didn't know it: Professor Sinistra's first name is Aurora.

ENJOY!

LMG


	17. Chapter 17

Thank you to my BETA: Malombra. She is great and has been patient with me when for a reason unknown I want to change and/or trash everything I had just written.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

As Ron and Draco left the young Veela's room and were walking towards the infirmary to meet up with Harry, Harry was sitting staring off into space quietly. Sin, who was taking the opportunity to watch him carefully without him noticing, took in his nervous demeanor, his barely seen blush, and the biting of his bottom lip. Clear signals that the young man before her was thinking about things he had never considered- mainly, Draco Malfoy. And the events from last night.

Rape was a serious charge in the Wizarding World and carried an understandably harsh sentence. A Witch or Wizard's power originated from their central core, or as some like to call it 'the soul', for a magical creature to be attacked like that was unconscionable. The person who had been attacked was in danger of their magic literally tearing them apart. Magic was an intricate part of any magical creature and as such the repercussions were deadly when that magic failed to protect. She had never seen it happened but she had been a woman in her young twenties when the first War had been going on, she had heard the horror stories. The suicides….something one even as young as she had been could understand that.

When Harry started to fidget, she knew the time for silence was over. He loved to play with the trim on his sleeve and all of his long sleeve shirts had frayed cuffs just enough to show the silver bracelet wrapped around his wrist. She gently set her tea cup down on its saucer and that quiet clink was enough to startle him from his thoughts. Small talk had been over for at least twenty minutes and she had sat and waited for him to speak. When he didn't, she knew it was time for her to take the initiative and bring up the events from yesterday. Before she had a chance to say anything Harry sent her a pleading look from under his too long bangs and said one small word that literally broke her heart from its heavy sadness and immense confusion.

"Why?" He whispered. The defeat in his voice brought tears to her eyes. She had never heard him sound so broken.

"I do not know, Harry." Aurora desperately wanted to reach out and touch him but she knew from long experience that that was not the way to go. The last time she had ended up with scorched fingertips. Harry had a tendency to leak his power when his emotions got too out of control which brought up the question of why the attack had even happened in the first place. Harry was not a tactile person so touching someone was usually out of the question. What had been going through his mind to not defend himself? She could see that he had a tight reign on his emotions but she didn't want to take a chance that could hurt them both. She didn't want to add the guilt of hurting her to his already overwhelming load.

Sin sighed and could not keep the sad look from her face. She knew the question he was asking her: did someone make Ginny do this or did she do this by herself? She had no straight answer for him so she answered in a way she knew he would understand, not like but understand. "We have to believe in free will. We have no choice." (1)

Harry smiled gently at her though that didn't cover the previous emotions. They often did this, talked to each other in quotes. Sometimes someone else's words could convey what you were feeling better than your own. "There is always a choice. Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions." (2)

"If I wished to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly." (3) Oh no, this was worse than she thought. He thought it was HIS fault. The urge to lash out at the young woman who had done this to him was overwhelming. She wasn't sure she could help him through this by herself. She wasn't sure she was strong enough but she would do everything in her power to help him heal. Even play the bad guy.

"Einstein again. One of his greatest, I think."

"Harry…please. You know…"

"I know, Sin. It's ok."

"But it's not. I wish there was something…"

Harry smiled sadly and gave a slow shake to his head. "But there's not is there? And that's just the thing, or the problem, isn't it? It's just my luck, my crappy life, whatever."

Sin did not even try to hide her flinch at the bitterness in that last word, as it was loud and clear while his gaze was level and unflinching. She knew she had nothing to say, and she knew that he knew there was nothing to say. Well, nothing that wouldn't sound like she was trying to placate him (and she knew how much he would hate that). It was, after all, his life and living it had to be harder than experiencing it from the sidelines. It _had_ to be!

"Please don't, Harry." Her voice was soft and pleading, tinged with her own sorrow and bitterness for what she had not been able to do for him.

"Don't!" Harry suddenly felt so irrationally insulted. Why, he was not sure, but he felt deeply insulted by her plea, heartfelt though it was. "You don't get to do that."

He jumped up and started pacing running his shaking hands through his hair, and obviously caring not one bit what he looked like. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself. As he paced the five steps back and forth in the small infirmary room the dreams he had been having came back to him full force. Was this what the dreams were about? Was it a premonition about Ginny or a longing for Draco? His mind was spinning and he couldn't grasp onto either concept right now. He didn't know what to do! The black anger he felt rising in him scared him more than anything, even the events of last night. He didn't know what was wrong with him!

Sin stayed as quiet and still as she could. It was always best to let Harry work out as much as he could by himself. She was always there to help though. She knew Harry's anger would fade quickly, as long as she didn't antagonize him even more. Of course, she was never able to gauge that too well. "Pity much?"

"What!?" Harry swung toward her, eyes wide in disbelief, voice wavering between shock and amusement. She had heard this from him more and more as he grew weary of his life.

"Oh, please. We've had this conversation too many times for the 'angst-y teen routine' to do much for me." Sin made the air quotes sign and grinned at the stunned teen before her.

"You won't even let me have any fun will you?" Harry pouted cutely and crossed his arms in a convincing act of frustration as his anger faded as quickly as it had risen.

"No. Now sit down and behave. You can angst later." She gave an amused chuckle, "with Draco."

Harry snorted but sat. As soon as his backside hit the chair he sighed and the amusement quickly left his face. "My life really does suck, you know?"

"I know, Harry." Sin smirked and gave a chuckle, "we could look on the bright side."

"Bright side?" Harry blinked wide eyed at her, confusion plain to see in his brilliant green irises.

Sin pouted to herself a little and crossed her arms against her chest. She tried to make herself look as much of a young teenage girl as she could. She widened her soft brown eyes, tilted her head as if she didn't understand anything, and slouched, just so. "Hello…"she sang out with a slow flapping of her hand as if she was trying to wave a scent his way, "Draco. Veela. Veela love. Ring a bell?"

Harry stared at her not believing what he was seeing or hearing. It was totally unlike anything he had seen her do that he was speechless. He knew his jaw had dropped and his own eyes were probably about to pop out of his head. He also thought his reaction was completely founded. Cool, calm, collected Professor of Astronomy Aurora Sinistra was acting and sounding like a teenage girl. Logically, he knew she had been one at one point in time but he had never, **ever** thought to see anything like it first hand.

"Uhh…." was the sum total of his collective brain functions at this second. Her snort and then soft giggle, that soon turned into a full body laugh as the arms previously across her chest were now hugging her stomach, pulled him back from his scattered thoughts.

"Oh. My. God! Sin! You just…." Harry himself started to laugh.

After a few good moments when all they could do was laugh, Harry gave a final grin and then shook his head with a softly muttered, "thanks".

Sin smiled at him and reached out to press a hand lightly on his knee just enough that he could tell she was touching him but not enough to send his hackles rising. "There's only one thing left to do now, Harry."

Harry briefly let his hand flow softly over hers that was resting on his knee and looked at her with one eyebrow quirked in question.

"Pick a side: the side where _SHE _wins or the side where you get the chance to have everything you have ever dreamed of."

Harry blushed, "oh, that."

"Yes, that." Sin studied him for just a moment before saying seriously. "What are you going to do?"

"I honestly don't know." His tone was soft but the look in his eyes was not. Hard green eyes held a variety of emotions, shame, grief, determination, sorrow, and confusion. She was actually glad to see all of it too. Normally his eyes showed nothing. This might make or break him. She was counting on the making though, and she knew just the young Veela Lord that was going to do it, too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a rundown castle in a remote Danish village, two men sat before a roaring fire. Although it was not cold outside, the night air had a bit of a bite to it and the man wrapped in a thick coat felt it all the way to his inner core. It seemed he was always cold now. The pasty white skinned man with the dull red eyes knew what had gone wrong with the ritual he had performed to get this disgusting body. It was too late to do anything about it now, though.

The problem had been gradual or he would have noticed it sooner he was sure. When his royal servant, Wormtail, had taken Potter's blood he had also taken the substance that had been coating the boy from his struggles during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. It seemed that the sap from the Devil's Snare plant did not bind well with the other ingredient's used in the potion that had brought him back.

His most brilliant Potion's Master, Severus Snape, was working on a new potion that would counteract the properties of the Devil's Snare in his system. It was only a matter of time now before he would be able to go back into the sunlight and not have his body attempt to shrivel up like a prune. He wouldn't have thought he would miss the sunlight as much as he did. Being corporeal and not being able to do things was one thing. He should be able to live his life in the most decidedly evilest way he could. But no… because of incompetence he was stuck living a nightly life that he found he hated with more passion than he hated the person who had made this existence for him real in the first place…Harry Potter.

Snapping his thought's back to what was really important he snarled out for the house-elf, Bipsley, to bring him another cognac. After taking a rather large sip of the warm brown liquor, he turned to his Veela companion, to restart the conversation his thoughts had interrupted.

"Now, Lord Stewert," Voldemort said in his most evil sounding voice, "this is what I will require of you."

The Lord of the Water Clan just listened impassively. Here was a chance to finally take control of the Clans and he would do what it took to that the Earth Clan down. Having the Lord be Lucius Malfoy only made this plan sweeter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ginny snuck into the infirmary, her eyes only on the door at the back of the room. She was going to take care of that meddling nurse before she went to get Harry. As she swung the door open to what was obviously an office, a curse already pouring from her lips, she was plotting her next course of action.

Madam Pomfrey knew that someone had entered the infirmary by the small chime that had sounded in her head the second the door to the infirmary was opened. She walked around her desk and headed for the door when it was pushed open violently. A question was on her lips even as she heard the curse that the young girl before her uttered. She didn't have the time to scream when the light of the curse hit her square in the chest and she fell to the floor without a sound being heard.

Ginny quietly closed the door. She had not wanted to do that. She knew that Harry would be upset with her when he found out. But he would understand about doing what had to be done. It was what he always did.

Once she explained her actions she was confident that the man she loved would no longer be upset with her. After all, forgiving is a key element in love, isn't it?

As she neared the door to Harry's infirmary room her step was light and her smile confident and soft. Or so she thought. Had she really known what she looked like in that moment she would have been scared of herself. She reached out with the hand not holding her wand to knock softly on Harry's door. It was the polite thing to do after all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I panicked, Sin. Me! I can kill with a word, incapacitate with two fingers, but a young girl managed to get the slip on me."

"Get the slip on you? Since when did you become invincible? Harry, you are seventeen years old. You were unconscious and then hexed unmovable! What makes you so sure you can defeat everyone? Especially when that someone is a person you implicitly trust?" Their conversation had been light for a while but as usual it turned to more serious matters.

"It shouldn't!"

"Why? Because you're Harry Potter? Please, you're nothing but a very scared young man who has to face something that would make most grown men cry. You have faced more in your life than anyone I have ever met AND you're still sane! Harry…" Sin stood and walked to Harry where he had been pacing on the far side of the room, and took his shaking hands gently in hers. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

"It's not me I am worried about, Sin."

"Son, I know." The woman pulled the young man she considered as close to a son as she would ever have into a tight hug. "You will always worry about others, Harry. It is just who you are but please," here she pulled back from the hug and looked intently into Harry's face, when he tried to avoid her gaze she made him look at her with a gentle touch and a more gentle smile. "Please, remember that you are human and are just as susceptible to the damages that life can cause as the rest of us."

Long minutes passed as comfort was given and accepted; as close to accepted as Harry could get anyway. It took longer than either of them thought for Harry to calm down enough to pull away. Sin had been surprised when he had trembled at her touch but had not pulled away.

"Thank you." Harry whispered quietly.

"You are very welcome." Sin whispered back just as quietly.

Neither wanted to break the silence that remained, it was a good silence Sin thought. She could tell that Harry was wrestling with himself. That he was trying to work things out in his head was a good thing, she knew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Both Sin and Harry heard the knock on the door and turned as one to see who it could be. Harry expected Draco and Sin expected the Headmaster. Neither expected someone who was suppose to be locked up and far, far away from there.

Their decision was made in the split second that they had to react and both hoped it was the right one. As they had practiced many times both dropped into a fighting stance, wands at the ready. The spell Ginny cast ricocheted off the _protegro_ spell that Sin had cast. As it hit the ceiling another spell came from outside of her shield.

When it hit the whole room shook and the backlash threw everyone to the floor and had their ears ringing. No one could see anything because of the dust and the rubble. It took a few minutes for Sin's eyes to adjust to see the young girl laying in the corner of the room, unconscious once again. She didn't even try to stop the flare of contempt. This girl had tried again to get to Harry. But this time he hadn't been alone and she had protected him, just as she had always said she would.

Sin moved her head when she heard a sharp cry but all she saw was a glimpse of clouds and strangely, a bird flying by.

The whole wall of the infirmary was gone, blown away by the force of the backlash taking Harry with it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco pulled Ron into a standing position and both of them ran down the corridor. Both of them instinctively knew that this had something to do with Harry and prayed they would get there in time. Draco stumbled to the floor as a pounding rage filled him. _**Harry! **_His mind screamed out that he needed to get to his mate as soon as possible. Ron yanked on his arm to help him up but paused at the look on the young Veela's face.

"Draco! Is it Harry?" Ron shouted at the stunned Veela, shaking him as well.

"Harry…" Draco whimpered as his knees buckled. If anyone but Ron had been looking they would have seen the outside edge of his body was fading and quickly disappearing.

"Come on!" Ron yelled as he started to drag the half-conscious boy with him.

As Draco and Ron scrambled around the last turn to the infirmary all they heard was an anguished, "Harry!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_**Quotes:**_

(1) 'We have to believe in free will. We have no choice.' Isacc Ashevis Singer

(2) 'Human beings in their thinking, feeling and acting are not free but are as causally bound as the stars in their motions.' Albert Einstein

(3) 'If I wished to live in a civilized society I must act responsibly.' Albert Einstein

A reviewer asked about the language. The Veela Language is made up by me. I took a word I wanted to use, like my (_a'a_), and used the doubled form of I (_a_) to set it up. I set the basic words and built from there. The Veela Language is in Chapter 6, if you are interested in reading it over again. To speak the Language just remember the declaring mark. _A'a _(my) would sound as ah-ah.

I was going to update quicker than I would normally because you all waited so patiently for the last chapter. However, a chance to go to a CCM class in Utah, US, came up and I could not pass it by. Unfortunately me and ice do not mix well and I fell. I was in hospital for over a month.

Since I stupidly forgot to take my notes for the story I had no outline to work with. I did come up with four new stories that I would love if you all checked them out. One of them '_Moving Twilight'_ is something that I have never done before, a crossover with Harry Potter and Twilight. It has a main pairing of Harry Potter/Edward Cullen. Please, check it out and let me know what you think.

Hope this answer's questions, and, as always, asks more.

Does anyone know what FanBox is?

ENJOY!

LMG


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you to my BETA: Malombra. She is great and has been patient with me when for a reason unknown I want to change and/or trash everything I had just written. Which happens way to much for her, or mine, piece of mind lately.**

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…**

**Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.**

**No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now. And very many, copious, author notes will declare my intentions loud and clear.**

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**I CAN'T FIGHT THE STARS**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

The anguished cry of '_**Harry**_' seemed to bring Draco to his knees with the Veela in him practically screeching to be released. His mate was gone. He could tell he was gone because he couldn't feel him anymore.

That momentary hesitation gave Ron the time to run around him and see a scene out of a battlefield. The outer half of Harry's infirmary room was gone. Not just gone but _blown_ away. Debris was everywhere and there was a heavy cloud of dust from the destroyed wall that could just be seen blowing away outside the castle.

A shout drew his attention to the body barely hanging at the edge of the broken room and Ron ran to Sin who was at the edge of the floor trying to lean out of the broken part of the room. She was dangling precariously and as she started to slide over the edge Ron managed to jump and grab her legs to keep her from going over.

"Draco!" Ron shouted but couldn't look back to see if Draco had come out of it yet. "Draco! Help me!"

"Harry…" Draco whimpered as he crawled over to Ron. He grabbed Ron's shoulders with shaking hands and tried to help him pull Sin back up and over the edge of the floor. They couldn't do it so the two younger men stayed as still as they could, hoping that they could hold on to her long enough for more help to arrive. Draco took a second to slip his arms under Ron's and wrapped them around Ron's chest and planted them as firmly as possible on his shoulder's. He braced one foot against a large sized chuck of the exposed stone on one side and the other foot on a metal bar sticking from the wall. That little adjustment had the trio shifting closer to the destroyed outer part of the wall. Ron, who had landed on his knees when he lunged to catch his Professor, couldn't get a proper hold so Draco was straining to hold up all three of them.

None of them could reach for a wand to help caste a levitation charm so they clung to each other praying for help to arrive soon as the ominous creaking of the room around them did not bode well for stability and longevity. Draco was not even paying attention anymore to what was going on around him. The Veela had almost completely taken over. The human part of his mind that was left was the only thing keeping his arms wrapped around the red-head before him. All he could think about was that Harry was gone. The Veela raged because it wanted to go find its mate but was overrun by the stronger human side. Draco knew that if he let Sin go and if she died, Harry would never forgive him for it. Things were on shaky ground between them as it was, he didn't need that too.

Sin's voice was amazingly calm as she gave instructions to the two boys behind her.

"Professor…," Ron's voice was shaky but determined, "Professor, you're bleeding."

"I am just fine, Mr. Weasley. Thank you for your concern. Now, is there a way that one of you can begin to pull us back up."

"I-I don't think Draco can help." Ron stuttered but quickly regained his composure.

"Ah, the Veela has taken over." Sin's voice was amused, _amused!_, and Ron would have laughed at her tone if the situation wasn't so dire.

"Yeah, I can hear him whimpering Harry's name but he ha-…," Ron had to stop when another shift of the floor put even more strain on his knees and he couldn't stop his grunt of pain as he felt his right shoulder fall out of place with a crunch and then a soft pop. "But he has a pretty good stable position unfortunately with no room to pull back."

"Okay, we wait then." Sin's voice grew soft at the end.

Ron was extremely concerned. He could see the amount of blood under her and though he wasn't a Healer he had seen enough battles and death to know that that amount of blood could not be good. When she didn't speak for a few seconds Ron knew that was a bad sign as well. "What happened, Professor?"

"In the position we are in," Sin grunted in pain, "I think you have earned the right to call me Sin, Mr. Weasley."

"Oh, okay. What happened, Sin?" Ron felt weird, he had never called a Professor by their name, especially not a nickname given to said Professor by his best friend. Who was missing. Ron pulled himself from that thought and forced it away to concentrate on Sin.

"Your sister-"

"She's been disowned." Ron interrupted hastily. He felt even weirder referring to her as his sister now that the family had disowned her. It must be in the magic of the spell used in the disownment because he felt nothing for the girl he used to call his sister.

"I see. Well, Ms. Ginny somehow got loose from her bonds and attacked us." Sin had to stop to take a few deep breaths, while trying not to show how painful it was to do, before finishing. "Harry took the backlash of her curse and was thrown from the room."

Draco whimpered behind him at Harry's name but Ron didn't have time to comfort the distraught young man. "How did the hole get in the wall?"

"That part is…fuzzy. I do not know."

Ron listened as she recounted the few seconds of the attack that she could remember and was worried when her voice trailed off again. "Sin?"

When he didn't receive and answer he panicked. "SIN!" He yelled louder and tried to shake her.

That was the wrong thing to do. A part of the floor underneath her broke away and the three of them were pulled towards the edge of the jagged hole in the wall and there was nothing they could do about it.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The group that had been left in the young Veela's room was running as fast as they could towards the destruction. They weren't sure but they all had the feeling that the infirmary was where they needed to go. Their fears were confirmed when they rounded a corner of the main hall and saw the Headmaster and Severus Snape turning the corner in front of them to head up the stairs towards the infirmary on the third floor.

"Headmaster, what is going on?" Lucius Malfoy demanded but didn't stop running. He could feel his son's fear and it was clawing at him. The enraged Veela Lord was running as fast as he could but he had a feeling that they would all be too late. He used his Veela magic to put on a burst of speed and drew abreast of the Headmaster and Snape as the three rounded the corner to the infirmary hall.

"An explosion has created a break in the wards." Was all that the Headmaster had time to say before they rushed through the doors and into the infirmary room. The men paused in shock when they saw nothing amiss.

"Harry's room!" Hermione yelled as she rounded the corner at the end of the hall, the rest of the group close behind her.

The three men rushed down the path between the beds and when they came to Harry's door were still surprised to see the amount of destruction even though they already knew what had happened.

"Oh, Blessed Shialla." Lucius whispered as he took in the devastation. He saw Draco sitting at a weird angle at the edge of the broken wall and made to rush to him but was stopped by the Headmaster. He turned to growl at the other man but stopped at the fear he saw on his face. "What?" He snapped.

"The floor is not stable."

"Levitation?" Snape's voice was as cold as usual but they could hear even his concern.

Dumbledore nodded and raised his wand, "together on three."

"Wait!" Lucius yelled out as something caught the corner of his eye. "The girl-" he gestured to where the unconscious, most likely, attacker lay.

"I'll get her." Hermione panted beside them. A wave of her wand and the three older men waited until the body had floated past them before looking again at each other.

"On three…" Lucius and Snape raised their wands and as the Headmaster counted it out said the charm at the same time.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_."

The effect of the powerful charm by three very powerful wizards was unexpected. Though they were standing just inside the door of the ruined room the shift in weight had the floor caving in and throwing them off balance. Three new voices cried out the levitation charm and then the Headmaster, Potion's Master, and Veela Lord found themselves floating in a cloud of dust as the ruined floor fell into the room below it with a loud groan of twisted metal and crumbling stone.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The stone hadn't had time to settle before the men were being levitated closer to the open door. Though Lucius seemed unconscious the light of the spell was still flowing steadily from his wand. When they were settled on the floor Narcissa ran to her husband. She was just in time to stop him from falling again. She grabbed his wand hand and the light from the wand grew brighter as she gave of her own magic to keep the spell going. Slowly the three wizards were moved backwards. As the group they were levitating came into view everyone gasped in shock.

Draco was floating with his arms around Ron Weasley's chest, with a bloody spot growing on his side but still holding on to the boy in front of him. Ron Weasley, who seemed to be doing fine if the various curses he was spewing were to go by, had his arms wrapped around Professor Sinistra's upper legs with his face planted right on her bottom. The Professor was leaning down at an angle that had the top part of her body still invisible. It was clear she was badly injured because everyone could see the blood dripping from Ron's hands around her waist and disappearing into the wreckage below. When the rest of the barely conscious woman came into view all movement stopped in the room for a few seconds. Harry Potter was hanging from one of her hands. It was clear he was unconscious and that whatever had happened he had taken the brunt of it as he was covered in blood and dirty from the destruction he had either created of flown through.

"Draco…" Narcissa whispered even as she continued giving her husband the help he needed to keep their son afloat.

It was Pansy that took over giving orders. "Blaise take over from Hermione and then Hermione you come help me. You are the best of us at healing spells, I think."

Hermione nodded but didn't speak until Blaise was standing next to her. "On three."

Blaise raised her wand and pointed it at her Head of House and nodded.

"One. Two. Three." At the last count Hermione ended her spell and dropped to her knees out of the way of Blaise's spell. Blaise's spell hit its mark half a second after Hermione's stopped so the Professor only dropped an inch. It was a mark to their training that the transfer was done flawlessly.

"Help me bring the unconscious people back into the room so that they could be released from the spell and healed." Pansy said and they first grabbed Harry and carried him to an open bed in the main infirmary. "Start healing him and I will bring Professor Sinistra's next."

"Thank you." Hermione said as she looked in to the Slytherin girls eyes for the first time.

Pansy smiled and it made her look pretty as she did. "He's my best friend. None needed."

By the time she had Sin's body on the bed, the Headmaster was by Hermione's side helping her with Harry. When Ron was released from the levitation spell the first thing that the Potion's Master did was hurry to a cupboard at the end of the hall and brought back a dozen or more vials.

"Where is Madam Pomfrey?" Blaise questioned as she helped Narcissa with Lucius. Greg and Vince had taken Ron and Draco to their own beds and were now standing at each end of the hallway, one guarding the doorway to the destroyed room and the other near the door to the infirmary. No one would get in these rooms now without having to go through one of them.

"I don't know." Narcissa said as she walked Lucius closer to Draco's bed so the Veela Lord could check on his son.

"I'll go look."

The Headmaster muttered a cleaning charm over Harry's face and Hermione followed after with a healing charm. Snape was at Harry's head about to pour a potion into his mouth when a harsh voice stopped him.

"Get away from him, you bastard!" Ron yelled his voice thick with rage. He hadn't just saved Harry for him to die by that bastards hand!

"Ron!" Hermione gasped.

Ron ignored her. "No, Hermione. Harry doesn't trust him and neither do I. I want someone to check that potion before it is given to Harry."

It was silent for a second only before Snape snarled at the red head. "How dare you!"

Ron drew himself up and ignored his flinch as he pulled his arm the wrong way. "Oh, I dare more than that. You will not give that potion to Harry."

Snape sneered at him and turned back to Harry before moving once again to pour the potion down his throat. A wand pressed into the back of his neck froze him. The voice was low and threatening, "I suggest you back away Severus."

"Narcissa?!" Snape's shocked voice was kind of squeaky.

"Give me the vial." Narcissa's tone of voice didn't change and her wand didn't waver.

"It is a simple internal healing potion. He has a crushed lung." Everyone ignored Draco's snarl at that but they all thanked Merlin he wasn't able to get out of that bed because Snape would be dead if he could.

"Let her check, Severus." The Headmaster's voice was one the gave no room for argument.

"Exactly when would I have had time to poison it?" Severus voice was cold and mocking. Although they all knew he was right no one was taking any chances.

"Then it won't hurt to check will it?" Ron's voice was childish.

A few spells later and Narcissa handed the potion back to Severus with any hint of shame at questioning a Potions Master.

Snape snatched the vial back and looked at each of them in turn. "May I?" He motioned towards Harry and then snorted as he quickly poured the potion down his throat.

"Headmaster…" Pansy's voice was shaky and scared. Everyone turned to her where she had been trying to stop the blood flowing from the Professor's stomach. "I think she's dead."

Blaise rushed back into the infirmary from the office where she had been looking for the Medi-witch. "Madam Pomfrey is dead!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

BOY WHO LIVED ALMOST RAPED 

_Was Harry Potter raped by his best friends, Ron Weasley, little sister? _

_According to our sources, our Savior fights for his life at St. Mungo's today after an attack while he was in the infirmary recovering from a fall that resulted in a head injury, Hogwart's Medi-witch, Pomfrey Green, was killed by Ms. Weasley, Professor Sinistra, a close friend of our Savior, is in critical care in St. Mungo's CCU unit. The Young Veela Lord, Draco Malfoy, is also at St. Mungo's for reasons not released._

_What has happened at Hogwarts? Are all our children in danger or just the most powerful ones? How long should we let this go on?_

_We have been informed that a __Student Court__ has been called at Hogwarts to bring to trial the perpetrator for her actions against our Savior. Let us hope that our children, who have grown up under the thumb of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, have a better sense of justice than the previous generation did. Our prayers and thoughts go out to our Savior right now. _

_Another startling event has also taken place. The Weasley family has disowned the youngest, and only daughter, for her actions against one of the members of their family. Harry Potter has been an honorary Weasley since the age of eleven._

_This reporter will be bringing you all the details about the trial and comments on its possible outcome._

See page 46 for the history of the Student Court and disownment.

David Trotterham

Staff Editor and Star Reporter

London WW Times

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Draco sat at Harry's beside reading a book out loud to him. He had been unconscious for two days now. They had tried to keep Draco from the room but after the second Healer had to go to the Emergency Department to get healed they got the picture and quit trying to get him to leave. _This was his mate and he was not leaving! It was his right!_

Since finding out that Harry was his _Alona_, they had only had three hours together where he had been conscious. Three! He wasn't going to survive if this kept up. He wanted his mate and he wanted him to wake up now!

Sighing he leaned over to smooth the hair back from Harry's sweaty forehead and gave it a kiss. He pulled his wand and cast a cleaning and cooling charm over Harry. As he set his wand down on his lap he picked up the book and continued to read in his soft voice. Praying that Hermione was right and that Harry really could hear him. Just think of the hexes he would get to try out if this was some weird Muggle joke!

_If I could catch a rainbow _

_I would do it just for you _

_and share with you its beauty _

_On the days you're feeling blue. _

_If I could build a mountain _

_You could call your very own; _

_A place to find serenity, _

_A place to be alone. _

_If I could take your troubles _

_I would toss them in the sea, _

_But all these things I'm finding _

_are impossible for me. _

_I cannot build a mountain _

_Or catch a rainbow fair, _

_But let me be what I know best, _

_A friend who's always there. _

He found this poem in a book that was always on his Grandmothers bedside table and he loved it when she would recite it to him. When she had fallen ill, it had been Draco that was reciting poems to her until she fell asleep. When the morning came that she hadn't woken Draco had faced it with peace and the knowledge that she was no longer in pain. His pain at her passing was still with him though and he knew she was more than his Grandmother, she had been his best friend. He wished she was still here so that he could introduce her to his mate. They would have gotten on well, he thought.

He had just put the book aside when his father came in the room. "Still asleep?"

Draco nodded but couldn't speak around his tight throat.

"What is wrong, Draco?"

"I-I…don't know."

Lucius sat by his soon to be son-in-law, on the other side of the bed and waited for his son to gather his thoughts so that he could tell him what was wrong. Though he could already guess. Draco was a very strong Veela, and being near his mate and not being able to speak to him or even help him was probably tearing him apart. He couldn't help him with that but he could listen as he ranted.

"I couldn't keep him safe."

Lucius still kept quiet.

"I vowed to him that I would and only hours later he is attacked again." Draco didn't even know where this was coming from. Logically, he knew that there had not been anything he could do to predict that that bitch would have gotten free but that didn't stop him from feeling useless. "How can he want to be with me?"

"Why wouldn't he?"

Draco shot his father a confused look. "He needs someone strong enough to protect him!"

Lucius snorted, "Potter does not need to be protected, he needs to be loved."

"He hates me now."

"What! What insane thought gave you that idea?" Lucius loved his son, he really did, but sometimes he thought he really was a ditzy blonde.

"Wouldn't you if someone said they would protect you and then they didn't?"

"Draco, Harry may be rattled and feeling depressed about Ginny's actions, but he is not stupid and certainly knows you had nothing to do with this. For you to think that Harry might not know this, would be insulting to his intelligence."

"I'm being stupid, aren't I?"

"You think?" Sarcasm was heavy in the Veela Lords voice.

"Shut up." Draco snorted and then crossed his arms. "I just…don't even know yet if he will accept the claim, you know? We never got a chance to really talk about it."

"He told you he would, yes?"

"That was before this." Draco waved his hand towards Harry's sleeping form.

"Ah, you think he will blame you because he was attacked in his infirmary room, with a teacher present who treats him like a parent, inside Hogwarts, where a woman he had come to trust was killed, trying to heal him, by the same woman who had almost raped him?"

Draco opened his mouth and then snapped it closed, "when put that way…"

"I am known to be an eloquent speaker when needed." Lucius was smug.

Draco sighed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. It took an effort to stop the tears from falling but his father saw the shining in his eyes but thankfully didn't comment about it. He unconsciously reached and pulled Harry's hand to tuck under his chin. "I just want him to wake up."

"He will soon, son."

They fell into silence and Draco only nodded when his mother entered and went to sit on the side of his father's chair.

"How is Vince?"

"He still feels guilty for leaving when Professor Sinistra got there."

Draco sighed. "We will all feel guilty about that for a long time. And Sin?"

Narcissa smiled at the concern her son was showing for the woman whom Harry thought of as a mother. It bode well for them that he was able to accept her so easily. "She will be fine. Sore for a few days more but concerned that Harry hasn't woken yet."

"Did you tell her what the healers said about his head trauma?" Draco questioned sharply. He had left his parents to take care of the public and dealing with his and Harry's friends. He hadn't left Harry's side except to go to the restroom. He even slept in this chair.

"Of course."

Draco flinched at his mothers cold tone. "Look,-"

"Das a'a, son."

"I am calm, father…just frustrated."

Narcissa smiled sweetly at her son to show no hard feelings. "I know, Draco."

"And the others?"

"Hermione and Pansy are finishing setting up the Student Court. Ron and Greg are working with the Aurors for security. Vince has taken over the infirmary. I will be meeting with the Headmaster to go over any questions that might arise with the Veela Court, and-"

"Where is she?" Draco asked in a sharp tone after glaring at the loving look his mother sent between him and Harry.

"She is in the dungeons." Draco tilted his head but waited for her to continue. "Blaise is watching her."

Draco paused for one second before the most devious smile his mother had seen in a while filtered across his face. "really?"

"Don't even think about it Draco." Lucius stated.

Draco pouted and crossed the arms that was free over his chest. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"I am sure you don't." The entire family smirked at each other before a sigh drew Draco's attention back to the sleeping boy on the bed.

"When does the trial start?"

"Tomorrow." Narcissa looked critically at both boys.

Silence reigned for a while before a grunt was heard from the bed. Draco jumped up and leaned over Harry, determined to be the first thing that he saw when he woke. Lucius stood and hovered, uncharacteristically, by the bed side, while Narcissa ran for the door and yelled for a Healer.

Harry grunted as he struggled to wake.

"Come on, beautiful…let me see you. Open those eyes for me." Draco whispered. His heart was pounding. Harry was finally waking!

"Move over, Mr. Malfoy." A softy, but commanding, voice overrode his whisperings.

Draco ignored him. He held on to Harry's hand tighter.

"You must move back." The voice was sharper now.

Draco stopped whispering and slowly moved his head to the side and his piercing grey eyes met the suddenly startled one's of the Healer. The growl that came form him had the older man stepping back and his mother gasping his name.

The Healer's brown eyes softened, "Mr. Malfoy, I need to scan him."

Draco felt his face flame. It took more strength than he thought it would to step away from the bed. His mother hurried around to him and gathered him into her arms.

"He's awake…" He whispered to her.

"He'll be fine, son." Lucius said as he came to stand next to his wife and son.

They watched as the Healer ran multiple tests and hummed at the results of each one. After about the fifth test, Draco couldn't stand it anymore and snapped, "well?"

The Healer jumped in surprise. "Oh, my! I forgot you were here."

"Really?" Draco raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Well, Mr. Potter, does have a concussion, naturally after the injuries that he had sustained. The skele-grow has worked wonderfully and his ribs have been re-grown. There was no significant swelling of the brain so no worried there. I suspect that he will wake within the hour. He will be in considerable pain as skele-grow and bruise-balm can not be given at the same time. Once he is fully conscious for a full 24 hours we will give him the bruise-balm."

"Is. He. All. Right!" Draco ground out tired of the man's rambling.

The Healer looked startled but regained his composure quickly. "He'll be fine, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco seemed to deflate into his mother's arms. "Thank Shialla."

The Healer turned to run a few more tests, talked to the nurse no one had seen enter, and then left the Veela family with The Boy Who Lived.

Narcissa gathered her shaking son in her arms and it was her turn to whisper soothing words to calm her son.

"How did you know?" Draco asked his mother as he buried his head in her shoulder.

"Know what, darling?"

"That dad was the one?"

"Ah." Narcissa blushed. "Your father…he was something else when we were your age. Nice looking," the both ignored Lucius' 'hey!', "_handsome_, courteous, kind…but most of all he loved me."

Draco snorted at the affronted look on his father's face. He imagined that was what he would look like someday. "But how did _you _know?"

Narcissa kissed him on the forehead and hugged him even tighter, "because I loved him first."

"Narcissa!" Lucius gaped, "you did not!"

"But I did, my dear Lucius." Narcissa smiled as she walked over to her husband and wrapped her in her silk glad arms, kissing him gently on the lips. Draco felt his heart constrict. He wanted this with Harry, what his parents had. They loved each other so much you could feel it hanging in the air.

"But you…" His father looked so funny with that dumbfounded expression on his face that Draco had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at him.

"Well, now, I couldn't just let you think you didn't have to work for it, could I?"

Draco giggled and then sharply turned to the bed when he heard a soft groan. He rushed to Harry's side and held his hand as those lovely green eyes opened.

"Hey." Well, that was the stupidest thing he could have said.

Harry opened his mouth to reply but all that came out was a grunt. Draco grabbed the water glass from his bedside and poured a little into it. He helped Harry up some and then helped him drink.

"Thanks." Harry was able to whisper.

Draco nodded and set the glass back down and then just held his hand as Harry finished waking up. He looked at Draco's parents but didn't say anything about them being there.

After a few minutes he said, "Sin?"

Draco told him everything that he knew and reassured him she was fine. He was glad his parents hadn't interrupted. He could tell that Harry wanted to cry but for some reason was forcing himself not too. He finished telling Harry of the last few days, including the upcoming trial, and soon there was nothing left to tell him. Draco trailed off after realizing he was babbling.

"I have ordered your robes from Voltare and will be picking them up this afternoon before we leave for Hogwarts." Narcissa said gently into the silence he had left.

"You didn't have to get us robes to go to Court, Mother."

"You are a Malfoy, Draco, and you will dress as one. So will Harry."

"Father, I don't think Harry really cares what his robes look like."

"He probably doesn't." Draco's mother agreed with a small sniff and Harry snorted at that. "That is why I ordered them."

"Don't push to much, Mother." Draco warned.

"I am not pushing." Narcissa promised gently as she patted her sons hand where it was resting on the bed near Harry's hip. "I am spoiling."

Lucius snorted. "Potter may need that but I think we have done enough of that for our son to last us his lifetime."

Draco stuck his tongue out at his father and Narcissa grinned.

"You guys…" Everyone turned to stare at Harry in surprise as they hadn't known he was awake, "it's nice to see this side of you all."

Lucius nodded that he understood, Harry and he were close after all, but Narcissa frowned. "We all play our parts, Harry."

Harry sighed and looked away. "I am tired of acting."

"You don't have to around us, you know?"

"I do."

"But-"

"Draco, though we are mates…we really don't know each other well." Harry was hesitant to break the mood.

Draco pouted again. "We would be able to remedy that if you would stay conscious for longer than three hours at a time."

Harry's eyes bugged out and Lucius grinned while Narcissa gasped his name.

"Merlin," Harry turned wide eyes to Lucius and Narcissa and tried desperately to keep his lips from twitching. His voice was dry though and it caused the others to break out in laughter. "You **did** spoil him too much!"

They talked and laughed for a few more minutes before Draco's parents left with hugs and kisses to both boys. Draco thought Harry's blush when Narcissa kissed him on the forehead very cute.

"Thank you." Harry's voice was still thick from sleeping so much but Draco was glad to hear it.

"For what?"

"Being here."

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be." Draco leaned down to press a light kiss to Harry's lips. Harry sighed and settled back into the bed in a more comfortable spot. Once he was done, Draco crawled onto the bed beside him and sighed in bliss when Harry snuggled up next to him. They needed this, they really did. They spent the next few hours talking quietly.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

To everyone that has waited for this chapter so patiently I do hope it meets expectations. As to those who weren't patient…PPPTTHHHTTT (I am sticking my tongue out at you!!!) I did try- really, really hard to get this out sooner than the last time. But it seems life hates me. The last few years have SUCKED.

I know I changed Pomfrey's name. There is a reason.

Please check out my bio for information.

Calm my son- das a'a son

As always…

ENJOY!

LMG


	19. Chapter 19

Hello Everyone,

I want to thank everyone for all their kind words and thoughts that were sent to me about my mother. I never expected it and it warmed my heart.

Mom passed away on Monday at 8pm. She slowly fell into a coma and her body just gave out.

I am sorry but I am putting everything on hold for right now. I don't know for how long but I had to at least let you all know.

Your well wishes and prayers were welcomed.

Thank you for all your kind words.

She is now at peace and I will forever remember her that way.

LMG


	20. Chapter 20

Thank you to my BETA: Malombra. She is great and has been patient with me when for a reason unknown I want to change and/or trash everything I had just written. Which happens way to much for her, or mine, piece of mind lately.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to JKR. I am not JKR. Therefore, Harry Potter and Co. are just here for me to play with. And I do so love to play…

Pairing: Harry/Draco so this is SLASH.

No MPREG in this story though it is IMPLIED that it happens in the future. If, by some odd reason, I change my mind, I do apologize now. And very many, copious, author notes will declare my intentions loud and clear.

_**Also, Blaise Zabini is a girl in this story of mine. I know that in book 6, JKR finally reveals the gender of Blaise, but this was started before book 6 and anyways, I am not JKR so anything, ANYTHING, I write here is AU.**_

**MY STORY IS AU.**

ENJOY!

**I CAN'T FIGHT THE STARS**

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

**HISTORY OF VEELAS cont.**

All Lords and Ladies of the Veela Clan must go before the Veela Court to announce their _alona_ to the other Veela's once they have been claimed. Bringing a non-claimed mate to Court is dangerous, especially if the mate is powerful and the Veela is not, the Right to Claim can be questioned by another Veela. This has only happened twice in the last twenty years and both times by a Lord or Lady of the Water Clan with an attempt to bring a more powerful magical being into their Clan as opposed to the original Veela's Clan. Both times the Water Clan has lost with one concluding with both the Veela and their Werewolf mate dieing in the attempt.

Only the Mela, the Priests and Priestess' of Shialla, have the right to overrule such a claim but few do, as of this writing, only one couple were spared this Right to Claim fight for reasons never released outside of the Veela Court.

Excerpt from : The Veela Hierarchy

By: Lord Toshiri Relin

Information courtesy of The Hogwarts Library

anno domini merlin 1521.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**STUDENT COURT CALLED AT HOGWARTS**

**FIRST ONE IN OVER 50 YEARS!**

_This reporter was just informed of a momentous occasion that we, here at the London WW Times had mentioned just one short day ago, now know is no longer speculation but fact. Hogwarts has called for its first __Student Court__ in almost 50 years!_

_Yesterday we reported on the alleged attempted rape of Harry Potter by the young woman we can now call only Ginevra, meaning the disownment we reported as possible is also now factual, as he lay in a infirmary bed at Hogwarts after a fall in his rooms that sent him to the infirmary unconscious. Information of the reason for the fall has not been given but we here do believe that it must have had something to do with the Young Veela Lord Draco Malfoy refusing to leave our Hero's bedside since he was brought into St Mungo's. Is their bond, unconsummated we can only assume right now, already that strong? Time will tell on the one, dear readers._

_To give you a feel of how the event's of the next few days will unfold let's give a small history lesson of what a __Student Court__ entails and how a decision of this magnitude will effect the Wizarding Public as a whole. Keep in mind that the last __Student Court__ was held almost fifty years ago when a young girl was murdered in a bathroom. _

_The Hogwarts Student Court Judicial Panel__, more commonly known as just __Student Court__, is comprised of the Head Boy and Girl, a seventh or sixth year prefect from the remaining two houses, a representative of the Hogwarts School Board of Governors (normally the Head of the Board) and/or the Headmaster of Hogwarts. The Head of the Department of Ministerial Law from the Ministry for Magic is also there though only to help with a point of law and not an actually voting member of the Judicial Panel. All participants of the Judicial Panel must have no familial link to either the defendant or the claimant, be involved in the incident by action or inaction, nor have a bias against either side. If such conditions can not be met, representatives will be assigned by the removed individual to the vacant post with agreement of all other members of the Judicial Panel. _

_The Judicial Panel will not exceed a number of six (6) members at anytime but may have less based on the charges being brought up and if a connection is found of a participating member of the Judicial Panel while the __Student Court__ is in session it must immediately be called for a hold until the member is replaced and the new member is informed of all the facts of the case presented thus far. This delay may not exceed more than one (1) twenty-four hour period. If a replacement can not be found then a mistrial is declared and the trial is removed from the school and brought before a full session of the Wizengamot. The Heads of Houses of the claimant and the defendant represent them and if the two are from the same House a representative from another House is appointed by the Judicial Panel for the defendant. Typically, the __Student Court__ is held in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, with spells that are cast by the Head Auror to make sure that no information is released before the Judicial Panel is ready to make the decision known to the public. Any decision must be unanimous and once issued becomes a legally binding law that will be recognized in any legal court from that day forward. _

_Now to my questions and hopefully I am able to give you things to think about that you might have missed. _

_If the Young Veela Lord Draco Malfoy is involved, who will Veela Lord Lucius Malfoy assign as his representative from the Board of Governors as he, as the Head, will not be able to participate? The Head Girl, Pansy Parkinson, will not be allowed to participate if Draco Malfoy is involved so who will be picked for her position? Hermione Granger, arguably the most intelligent witch of her class, will not be able to participate because of her close involvement with Harry Potter. As well-known as Harry Potter is will there even be six people at Hogwarts that can sit on the Judicial Panel with the right amount of objectivity or will the panel be cut-down to the smallest number possible? Will the other members allow the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, to participate or will he be the only one not able to be removed as it is a post the standing Head of Hogwarts has held since the declaration of the school's Charter? Professor McGonagall is the Head of House Gryffindor in which both the claimant and the defendant are members of so which other Head of House will be appointed to represent Harry Potter or Ginevra? Surely not Professor Snape, Head of House Slytherin, whose hatred for our Hero is well-known. That leaves Professor Sprout, Head of House Hufflepuff or Professor Flitwik, Head of House Ravenclaw, to take the empty spot. _

_Is the rumored closeness between Astrology Professor Aurora Sinistra (who rumor says Harry Potter calls Sin) and Harry Potter (who, again only rumor, the Professor calls HJ) going to hinder the potential bond between him and the young Veela? Is the fact that Lady Malfoy was seen entering Voltare's Paris establishment yesterday a clue as to their involvement? If the Young Veela Lord is involved, why has the issue not been transferred to the Veela Court? As the Codex states in:_

"Ss. 14.10 Self-Defense of Mate and/or Children' - at the time of the conduct charged to constitute the offense he/she (the non-Veela) was under the age of claim [and] if not under the age of claim was there a reasonable assumption by the Veela for a positive consummation/acceptance before the offence…"

_Every Wizard or Witch alive knows that Harry Potter's 18 birthday is not until next year. Everyone is aware of Young Veela Lord Draco Malfoy's birth date as well, how was he able to contain the Veela Madness for so long without notice? Is the fact he was premature by almost a month the cause of his slower than normal descent into Veela Madness? How long have they known they were mates and is the claim still unconsummated? Will the Young Veela Lord claim _Right to Claim_ and demand death or will the compassion of the Boy Who Lived rule out and his alleged attacker, if found guilty, only lose her magic?_

_I ask you one more question that I believe to be of utmost importance and that you readers should, as free-thinking Magical Beings, think on heavily and it is this - Can our children, regrettably most of whom have been involved in the War and have managed to grow up fairly sane and happy, handle this responsibility? _

_All these questions and more we hope to bring you the answers too soon._

Information about the Student Court is taken directly for the Charter of Hogwarts as deemed between the Four Founders. Go to page 13 for information on _Right to Claim_.

David Trotterham

Staff Editor and Star Reporter

London WW Times

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ron and Greg sat in the small sitting room in the Malfoy Suite at Hogwarts going over the owl from the Head Auror. A whispered conversation that morning had Greg up to speed about Robards and what to expect they would have to have accomplished before the man got there at 10am. They had a plan and were in the middle of hashing out the finer points when the owl from Draco came. Greg took it hurriedly and whispered to the dark grey owl.

Ron watched quietly as Greg read it and waited until the other was done before speaking, "well?"

Greg grinned and Ron had no time to cover his startled look. They had had no arguments at all and it was something they were both having a difficult time coming to grips about. Ron was a Gryffindor and Greg was a Slytherin, they were _supposed _to fight, it was in their nature, wasn't it? "Harry's awake."

Ron smiled, "that's it? That's all he wrote?"

Greg shook his head slowly and smirked, "we should be glad we got three words out of him, Weasley."

Ron snorted, "let me guess, 'Harry is awake'."

"Umm, no." Greg had the grace to blush. "It says, and I quote, 'Shut it, Weasley'."

"It does not!" Ron stared at him in shock before he grabbed for the parchment. The struggle between the two ended with Ron sprawled on the floor but a triumphant grin on his face as he waved the parchment in the air. The smile faded, not all the way but some, as he lowered the crumbled parchment to read it.

"Well," Ron said slowly, "I'll be damned."

Greg's loud, and unexpected, laughter rang down the dungeon corridor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Blaise was bored. Really, really, _really _bored. She'd been sitting there all night and the little bitch had done nothing. Not one attempt to escape. Of course, the muggle shackles that Granger, no - Hermione must remember that, had taken out of her book bag may have had something to do with it more than having only one way out more than anything else. Why she had them and where she got them, she DID NOT want to know.

She had heard that she was a scary witch but she had always discounted that as trumped up Gryffindor rumors. Never again though, never again. Not only was she scary she had the intelligence to back it up. Yup, Blaise Zabini was no idiot, no way in hell was she getting on the wrong side of Hermione Granger ever again.

But damn, she really was bored!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office staring across his desk at the three people sitting there. He sighed deeply as he could feel a large amount of sympathy for them. He hadn't seen it either. He should have but he had missed it and now someone he held dear was hurt and might be beyond repair.

"Molly…"

"Don't Albus, please." Molly Weasley said quietly her voice cracking on the last word. Her face showed her tears and her absolute horror of what her daughter had almost done. Ginevra had been raised in the Wizard World and she knew exactly what her actions might have done to Harry and it had been clear she hadn't cared.

Arthur Weasley took his wife's hand in his and patted it gently. With a heavy sigh he took from the pocket of his robe a small black leather bound book. "This was found in her room at home. Molly and I have read it as did Bill and Charlie for the Family Vote," his voice broke here but he swallowed heavily and forced himself to continue, "as you know it was unanimous. All that we request is that the contents not be made public."

Lucius Malfoy opened his mouth to protest but Molly horridly interjected before he could say anything.

"Not for us, or even for Ginn - Ginevra, but for Harry. The events of her first year are in there." She sent him a look that he clearly understood. His culpability would be made public and that was something the Order couldn't have. They'd been told of his involvement with Harry and had come to the conclusion that this affair was more important right now. His 'spying' could wait to be explained at a later date.

Albus cleared his throat and the three turned to look at him. "With the eye-witness account and pensieve memories of the others, I am sure we will not need it." He stared at the book in revulsion, he could practically feel the evil intent rolling from it and refused to touch it in any way. That it was plain to see by the other three in the room he was not aware and probably would not care if he had been.

"I want it destroyed." Molly whispered harshly. She needed all this gone. She still loved her daughter. She could still feel her in her heart as any Mother could but this…what she had read and what she knew Ginevra had done was something she would never forgive nor forget.

Lucius reached a hand out and for the first time that anyone could remember he voluntarily touched a member of the Weasley family for a reason other than spite. His hand was gentle on the clasped hands of the couple beside him as he spoke softly. "I will take it. It will be kept safe in case it is needed and destroyed if it is not."

"Aine Shialla sini'nasa." Arthur stuggled to say.

Lucius was momentarily shocked and stared at Arthur Weasley before nodding his head in acknowledgment of his attempt at the Veela Blessing. "Sini'n asa."

Albus sat back tiredly. He had thought he could keep some control over Harry even after finding out about this Veela business but now, now, he knew that his time was over. He had gotten so used to everyone following him that he had forgotten about the people. The ones he was suppose to be fighting for. It had taken an angry young boy and an almost-tragedy to make him see and right now the greatest Wizard since Merlin was just a tired old man well past his time. He would not be participating in this trial and he didn't know who Lord Malfoy was going to appoint in his stead but he didn't care. Maybe it was time for him to retire.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pansy and Susan Bones entered the Library and quietly made their way over to the table to meet Terry Boot and Hermione Granger for their own little strategy meeting. The seventh and sixth year prefects had gotten a letter stating what was about to happen, without many details, and what time to meet in the library to pick the other two people that would sit on the panel with Susan and Terry. Unfortunately, due to family and friendship of either Harry, Draco, or Ginevra the 14 people they could pick from had dwindled to only seven. They were meeting early to see if they could come up with the two others between them.

Pansy and Hermione knew that they couldn't influence Susan or Terry but Hermione wanted them to know how the Muggle World treated rape before they asked anyone to sit on the panel and Pansy wanted to make sure that at least one of those two people chosen was a Slytherin. Too bad Greenleaf was only a third year, he would have been perfect. Maybe if they couldn't find another prefect they could just leave that spot open.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Severus Snape was in his dungeon quarters thoroughly drunk. The potion the Dark Lord wanted was impossible to brew, he was a laughing stock if front of the whole school due to a picture that sniveling Gryffindor Creevey had taken of him leaving Potter's room, and his plan to influence his student into thinking he, Severus, was his mate had failed. Once again a Potter had gotten what he had wanted. With a snarl of fury he threw his glass at the fire and stumbled to his bed. He would come up with a new plan tomorrow.

As he hadn't left his room since being kicked out of the infirmary by the Weasley brat he didn't know about the events of the morning and wouldn't know until it was too late to do anything about it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_He couldn't stand the burning heat, the clawing, itchy feeling that made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He tried to reign in the feelings of despair that threatened him again but as always he was unsuccessful. Darkness crept closer and closer to him and the screams of the unknown hovered just on the outskirts of the darkness, pushing it in with every faint beat of his heart. He tried to stop the screams but the need…the want…the hurt was just too much._

"_A nian asa…" Even the voice that would normally calm him was not working this night._

_His heart and soul screamed for a release, a need, that did not come, that never came. It burned him from the inside out and he knew, he just knew, that it was supposed to be a good thing, and it had been for a long time, but not lately. Now it was killing him._

_Giving in, he opened his mouth to scream out his agony. Before even a sound could come from him a soft humming in his ear brought a calmness with it that was startling in its rightness and the burning need immediately started to lessen. _

Harry woke gasping for breath as quietly as he could manage it. He and Draco had talked for a long time before falling asleep in each others arms, a first for Harry he was pretty sure he could get used to quickly, and he knew that the other boy had not been sleeping well the last few weeks and didn't want to wake him.

He had thought the dreams would have stopped by now since Draco was no longer 'searching' for his mate but maybe them being this close and the Veela in him not knowing if there would be acceptance soon made that side of him reach for him. Harry had had no idea the words he had been speaking in the dreams was the Veelan Language but really he shouldn't have been that surprised. He had picked up Latin easily for never having even heard it before Hogwarts and most Veela mates were bi-lingual. He had read that somewhere but couldn't remember where. He also remembered reading that until Harry _told _Draco he would accept the claim his Veela side would continue to cry out for its mate.

He didn't want Draco to go mad but was he ready, really ready, to accept this claim on him? Another claim on him. But one that could bring so much joy if he just had the guts to say yes. He had never thought of himself as a coward before but he was pretty sure he was acting like one right now.

"Stop thinking so hard, I'm trying to sleep." Draco murmured in his ear.

Harry shivered as the sweet smelling breath flowed over him and turned to look in sleepy grey eyes. "Prat."

"Gryffindor." Was the sleepy reply.

Harry snorted and looked away but didn't reply because really what could he have said to that?

Draco sighed and shifted so that he could sit up. Without asking he maneuvered Harry's body until the other boy was laying with his head in his lap and Draco's hand was gently running through his hair. The dirty look at being treated like a manikin was ignored and with a lifted eyebrow Harry just sighed and settled more comfortably right where he was. And not once did he acknowledge that voice in the back of his head the was purring, _purring_, at the Veela's actions.

"Out with it."

It clearly wasn't an order he was going to be allowed to ignore so he didn't even try. "Dream."

"Ah." Was all he said as he waited patiently for Harry to speak again. The time spent with Sin over the last day while his mate had been unconscious was good for him as he took her advice and waited for Harry to speak. He had known he would need to work things out for himself in that convoluted Gryffindor -ish mind of his before he would say a word. He had expected it to take longer truthfully.

"How did you know?" Harry asked quietly.

Draco paused as the question had come out of nowhere. They had been talking about meaningless stuff for the last few minutes before this very unexpectedly direct question. "Know what?"

"That I was your mate." Harry decided the direct approach would be best for this part of the 'getting to know you' thing they were doing right now. It was taking to long and if what he could remember about Veela, Draco really didn't have the time to be sitting here talking so calmly about trivial things. But then again, he had heard a rumor that Draco's birthday wasn't in September, like all the other Veela's, but earlier so that may have had something to do with how calm he seemed. Although, he 'knew his enemy' he didn't know what really made Draco tick and he didn't think this setting was one he could find out in without just a little bit of what could be termed 'awkward' conversation. _Be direct, be true, be believable_, as his Aunt says.

"Well…I am a member of the Earth Clan of Veela's, the best and most powerful as you will have heard," Draco raised his nose in the air and sniffed like he was smelling something especially foul and Harry had no control over the not-so-quiet snort and roll of his eyes, "and we find our mate by what are called 'spikes'. They can range from physical to mental some intense some just a feeling. I felt you but could not find you. It was…" Draco laughed but it was clear he was not feeling amused and the humor of just a second ago faded from his tone.

"Is that why the dream was so painful?"

Draco sighed. "It's possible. But Harry, you should know…most mates do not have the dreams that you do."

"Great." Harry muttered bitterly, "just another thing different about me."

"Do you think this is a bad different or a good different?"

"Is there a difference?" Harry said as he leveled the other boy with a pointed look.

"I don't know only you can answer that."

Harry sighed before he looked away from Draco and then shrugged. "I think it can be a little of both actually."

"What do you mean?"

"Good as in it might help us in the long run but bad that I had to go through them."

"True. But Harry," Draco took Harry's hand in his and brought it up to where he usually cradled it on his chest, "does it matter?"

Harry blushed and pulled his hand gently from Draco's, "I don't think so."

"Well then, there is your answer." Draco said in a tone that clearly stated he thought the matter was settled and took Harry's hand back holding tightly to it so he couldn't pull away.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Hold my hand like that."

"Oh," Harry was amused to see the light blush on the blondes face.

Draco took a moment to gather his thoughts before finally deciding to give a brief history of Veelan Legend to answer his question. "Legend states that the Goddess Aphrodite made the first Veela in her image. A child so beautiful that even Aphrodite was struck with a moment of jealousy. When the young Veela was grown she fell in love with a human servant. Aphrodite was angry and forbade her to see the human again. To make her child happy and want to stay she then created another Veela, this time a male. The male was also made in her image but was given an extra power of attraction so that the young female could not resist him. Her plan was to mate them together and then they would never want to leave her. Because even though Aphrodite was said to be the most beautiful woman anyone could behold she was lonely for no man, or God, was good enough for one such as her. Unfortunately, she was too late. The young Veela girl was already in love with the human male. Her name was Shialla and we Veela pray to her that we will have the strength to do what we must to find our mate and to make them happy. The legend says that a Veela's heart doesn't beat in a regular rhythm until they find their mate." Draco blushed hotly, "I just didn't realize it would feel this funny."

"Oh."

The silence wasn't heavy like you would think would happen after such a revelation so neither felt the need to say anything for a few minutes. Until Harry's curiosity got the better of him and he just had to know.

"Does it help?"

"Yes, Harry, it helps."

"Oh."

_Time to move on to a lighter topic_, Draco thought before he launched into a teasing conversation about Harry's hideous clothes. He caught the grateful look the other boy didn't even try to hide as he vehemently defended his choice of apparel. Albeit sheepishly but what made Draco smile brightly, Harry didn't pull his hand away again for a very long time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sin sat back with a heavy sigh as the Healer left her room after another seemingly endless battery of tests and wished she was back in her room at Hogwarts where she could relax. She had never liked coming here since she was a little girl and got lost and ended up on the third floor when she was eight years old. And Merlin! The smell, she hated the way the smell of this place seemed to permeate everything. What was it about hospitals that made you want to take your wand and shove it up tour nose for a quick freshening charm? She even thought she hated hospitals more than Harry but she wasn't sure.

A light knock had her calling whoever it was to enter. Maybe they were coming back to say she could leave but when the person stepped into the room she knew her hopes were dashed.

"Mrs. Malfoy."

"Professor Sinistra."

For a minute the two just stared at each other before the woman laying on the bed smiled and held her arms out to the other woman hesitating by the door. With a smile that was not normally seen outside of Malfoy Manor on her face she hurried to the bedside of the woman she hadn't seen in almost 15 years. They hugged tightly.

"Cissa."

"Rora."

The two had been best friends at Hogwarts until Lucius had claimed her and she had focused all her attention on him forsaking the friends she had made for the love of her life. But holding her tightly in her arms again it was like all those years were gone. She knew they would be able to pick-up with each other as if the last years had never happened.

"How're the boys?" Aurora practically demanded.

Narcissa pulled back and answered smoothly, recovering her control. "I think they'll be fine. I just left them talking."

"Do they seem to be getting along?" The dark haired woman asked as her mouth quirked at the other woman.

Narcissa slapped at Aurora's arm but let her teasing go. They both knew all about appearances and what happens when they fall. She was thankful that it wasn't brought up to her face and the small smile told her that the other woman was going to let it go without to much hassle. They could talk about that more later when she was healed and both of their boys were not in anymore danger. Though with Harry being Harry that probably wouldn't be for a while. She was willing to take whatever break she was going to be given and not look the others forgiveness over. She really had missed her though.

Sin could tell by the fleeting emotions shown on the pale aristocratic face that Narcissa understood that all would be forgiven, not forgotten, but for now forgiven.

"Well, they weren't yelling at each other when I left this time so I do believe we can all breathe easily for a few hours."

Sin snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. "What did Harry do now?"

Narcissa laughed and pulled the chair even closer to the side of the bed so that they could whisper to each other. "Actually, it was Lucius. He…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can we not just go on like we were?" Harry was very nervous, and deep down terrified, that the Veela was mistaken and he was not his mate totally forgetting about the dream from earlier and the fact that it was quite obvious since the other boy hadn't left his hospital room since he had woken up. He looked towards the fake window to the outside world to avoid looking at the other boy. St. Mungo's was underground so any scenery you saw was a complex series of charms and would show the person admitted in the room a view of their choice. Not surprisingly, Harry's choice was the view of the stars above as seen from the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts.

"You mean where I go slowly mad and you, apparently, work with my father?" Draco asked with a raised eyebrow the faint sarcasm in his tone completely throwing Harry.

"Uumm…" Harry looked everywhere but at Draco and his voice trailed off as anything that he could have said flew from his mind for a reason he couldn't define. It might, _might_, have had something to do with the flushed feeling that he was pretty sure wasn't his but Draco's. He shouldn't be feeling him like this, should he? "Sorry?"

Draco gently took Harry's chin in his hand and forced him to look him in the eye. "Don't be." Once he knew Harry wouldn't look away again he started softly and with a quavering voice that you had to strain to hear. "It doesn't work that way, Harry. After today every time I wake and you're not there my heart would break just that little bit more, my breath would stall and I would not be able to breath, my eyes would weep unstoppably and my body would tremble uncontrollably. It just doesn't- won't- work that way for me."

Harry could only stare at him silently before what he had said registered and his eyes widened and the look Draco was giving him made his mouth instantly go dry. The light seemed to glow around the blonde hair giving it a silvery halo-like glow and his eyes shone almost as bright as the light from behind him. The light pink bow-like lips were parted and the boy's breath smelled like the finest wine on earth. Even the hand holding his chin was perfect with its silky feeling and looking appearance. He watched, dry mouthed and teary eyed, as the young Veela leaned in and smelled him. Smelled him. Dear Merlin! How sexy is that!

Draco licked his suddenly dry lips and let Harry absorb that before continuing, "for me it's to late. What happens next between us is in your hands. But that is okay with me. I am happy to just be with you in any capacity you need at this time. Yes, I am a Veela. Yes, Veela need to bond with their_ bedine _both physically and mentally. Yes, I ache for you. Yes, I want you."

In between all those statements, starting with yes, Draco would lean closer and press a kiss to Harry's face. When he kissed the right eye the eyelashes fluttered against his lips. When he kissed the left eye Harry had gotten over the surprise and stayed still. When he kissed his forehead there was a flash of warmth as he had kissed the scar. When he kissed his nose he chuckled as Harry scrunched it up and how cute it looked. When he kissed his lips the last sentence was said right before he gently left them there, not pushing or demanding that the kiss be deepened in any way. They sat there, lips pressed chastely together, taking comfort from the closeness of the other.

"But, I can wait." Draco's voice had dropped into something slow and sensual that Harry couldn't describe and made his whole body tingle. "For now."

Finally, Harry sighed softly and pulled back so that he could look Draco in the eye. "Thank you." He said.

Draco smiled back at him before swooping in and placing a quick kiss to Harry's chin. "My pleasure, Harry. My pleasure."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Draco was waiting, impatiently, in the hall for Harry's Healer to leave when his Father walked up to stand quietly beside him. Truthfully, he was still a little upset with him for not telling him about his spying before now but could also understand why he wasn't told. He couldn't revel the secret if he didn't know the secret and no one could force him to tell something he didn't know. That didn't mean he agreed, just that he understood their reasons why he had been left out of the planning. How could he run his people without at first being trusted to run his life though?

"We will need to talk soon, son." Lucius said quietly.

"Yes, Father."

So much conversation in only two sentences. Lucius was saying that he would tell his son everything and Draco told his father he could wait until that time for his answers. Family discussions were left in private and Draco had a feeling that this 'talk' wasn't only going to be about Lucius' actions but about a larger picture that he couldn't see yet. Neither let that show on their faces or in their body language as that just wouldn't be proper.

Slytherin, and Veela, they both were but they were Malfoy's first and they would act like it.

* * *

Language:

Calm my son:_ das a'a son_

May the Goddess shine on you:_ Ain e Shialla sini'n asa_

I love you:_ A nian asa_

Shine on you:_ sini'n asa_

**THIS NOTE IS FROM CHAPTER 8 I THINK-THE PART IN PARANTHESIS IS THE NEW PART-PLEASE READ THIS! **

At the beginning of each chapter there is a little history that I have written. (Though I have not written one in a few chapters.) Yes, it has been written for a purpose. (Which would be hard to explain without giving to much away right now.) It is my hope that some of the things that I have envisioned for this story will not have to be explained at a later date because it has already been mentioned. (So please keep that in mind!)

Now on to this part: 

I am sorry this has taken so long but I just COULDN'T do this. I do not know if I told any of you but my Mom helped me with this story. Every time I tried to write on this I felt like throwing up. Yes, she was my Mom. And yes, she read Harry Potter fan fiction, though she liked Ann McCaffery better. My handy sounding board was gone. It was just to hard to even think about sometimes. So, I did what I could when I could and I am thankful that so many of you still ask about this and still support and encourage me to continue. I know my Mom is griping at me from where ever she is to 'just get on with it, silly'. So, thanks to all of you.

**Also, no internet access right now so that is another reason why this one is so late.** Please check out my bio for important information on upcoming updates.

Please, please, please understand that and take this as my offering. WOW, I don't think I have ever wrote so long of an author's note. I HATE them normally. LOL! Forgive Malombra as well, she tried to help and I love her for that.

As always…

ENJOY!

LMG


End file.
